6 reasons why you should consider a no-code platform for your next digital transformation project

There’s a lot of buzz about low-code and no-code development, but like with many things, it can be hard to figure out how the buzz translates into real value for your business. 

First of all, what is a no-code platform? A no-code development platform is a tool that makes it possible for citizen developers—business users without a technical background or coding skills—to create apps through a visual, drag-and-drop environment. With no-code, you can minimize barriers in business and accomplish more without costly additional resources. 

If you’re planning a digital transformation project in your organization, no-code can help you accomplish your goals faster and more efficiently.  We’ve broken down six ways that no-code can impact your digital transformation and help you deliver better customer experiences in a way that also makes sense financially. 

1. Speed of delivery

Things move fast in the financial world, and business needs change rapidly. Whether driven by a major global event like the pandemic, or just dynamic customer preferences, businesses need to respond to changing needs in real-time in order to remain competitive. 

When businesses are dependent on code, development takes time. IT departments are almost always overloaded with tickets from the entire organization, and your top priority may not be theirs. You may have to wait months for an update, and when new needs arise daily, who has time for that? Your customers definitely don’t. If you can’t deliver the experience they need, when they need it, they’re likely to go elsewhere. 

With a no-code platform, it’s often possible to have a prototype up and running in minutes. This boost to development speed allows you to meet needs as they appear in order to take advantage of business opportunities as they come your way. 

2. Increased efficiency  

In large organizations, business processes are often siloed by department or function. Sales, marketing, finance, risk assessment, etc. are each their own mini-organization, with little interaction taking place between departments. IT, in particular, tends to be its own “island”— often one that is constantly bombarded with never-ending requests from all of the other departments in the organization. Requests for new features, as well as tickets related to bugs and security problems in existing systems and applications, pile up, and IT is almost always dealing with a backlog, often a significant one, especially in larger organizations. That makes it harder for IT to respond to real-time needs and opportunities. 

No-code platforms allow business users and developers to work together more efficiently. Instead of handing a request off to IT and hoping that it will get done in a timeframe that is relevant to the need, with no-code, business users can actually do a lot of the development on their own. That takes some of the load off the IT team and frees them up for complex tasks, which means faster turnaround times for features and products overall. 

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3. Reduced costs

Software developers are expensive. It’s a simple matter of supply and demand—there are not enough developers out there to meet the growing need. In fact, in a recent McKinsey survey, 87% of companies said that they are experiencing a skills gap or expect to experience a skills gap in the coming years. Nowhere is that skill gap more apparent than in software development.  As the competition for skilled developers increases, wages are driven up, making developers, especially experienced ones, an expensive commodity. 

In the current labor market, that isn’t likely to change soon. The only way companies can reduce costs is to reduce dependence on developers, and one of the best ways to do that is with no-code platforms. Simple tasks that can be handled by no-code platforms can be offloaded to other employees, freeing up developers to concentrate on higher-value  tasks and resulting in cost savings for the company.

4. Easier updates and changes

No-code development platforms were designed for change management at scale. Unlike the solutions coded from scratch, no-code platforms include a centralized dashboard where you can apply changes at scale. For example, if you have a new branding requirement, all you have to do is update it on the platform and all processes created with that platform are automatically updated. The same is true for compliance requirements—the platform itself ensures that everything is always updated. 

In addition, since there's no coding involved, updates and changes are simpler and less time-consuming and don’t require the involvement of the IT department. If you need to change something in an app you’ve developed, all it takes is adding new business logic or an updated design template and you can implement the change in a matter of hours.It’s a welcome change from the complexity of code.

5. More flexibility

Did we mention that developers are expensive and in short supply? It’s worth mentioning again because if you’re dependent on highly-skilled developers, you won’t have the flexibility to make changes when you need them. Think about a scenario in which a significant business opportunity comes your way, but in order to capitalize on it, you need to update an application. If the developer you need to make the change is occupied with another urgent task—for example, managing a security risk, your opportunity may be missed.  No-code platforms eliminate those calculations and give you the flexibility to make changes on the fly, without having to wait for a developer to become available. That means fewer missed opportunities and greater business success. 

6. Greater scalability 

Growth is a key target for most companies, and scalability is key to growth. 

When digital transformation is dependent on the skills of a limited number of developers, it isn’t scalable. There are only so many hours in a day, making developer time a limited resource.  

No-code platforms can help organizations scale by utilizing citizen developers and reducing the dependence on highly paid developers.  The sky is the limit—companies can amplify the usefulness of no-code solutions by training more citizen developers from existing staff. 

No-code—your key to digital transformation

To sum it up—if your company is considering a digital transformation of any kind, from digitizing signatures, to a cross-platform customer journey, a no-code platform can help you achieve your goals with the resources you have available. Even more significant, no-code can help meet the dynamic needs of your customers and grow your business.