Low-code vs. no-code: Which one do you need?

October 14, 2021

For most organizations, process automation is a when, not an if. Competitive market demands are putting increasing pressure on organizations to streamline processes, increase efficiency, reduce costs and do more with less.

Therefore, many companies are focusing on areas of the business that can deliver the highest ROI – across multiple departments and use cases – with a combination of automation and intelligence. Automation platforms offer a great deal of flexibility, enabling enterprises to pursue virtually any automation project, no matter how complex.

However, few organizations have the time, budget, or personnel to build a system from scratch. Therefore, for many organizations, it’s a matter of determining whether a low-code or no-code platform is the right path to take.

The barriers with low-code

Low-code was created to overcome the barriers between the programmers and the business side to facilitate collaboration. While code can be written to connect some of the drag-and-drop functionality, the code can’t always be made to connect in the most efficient way.

Creating code

 A low-code platform may require that developers learn a proprietary coding or scripting language. Also, the simple act of creating code creates more potential for problems – the new code may contain errors; it may be added to existing code that is no longer operating efficiently; or the way connectivity is achieved may compromise security. 

Maintenance of a low-code system

With low-code, long-term code maintenance is introduced into the process, reducing long-term cost benefits. With a low-code system, the code may not be able to “keep up” with the evolution of the business processes within the plug-and-play part of the platform, so it can’t easily be revised as needs change.

The benefits of no-code

A single, unified no-code platform can easily overcome these barriers. No development languages or scripting need to be learned; no bad code can be integrated into the system. While the drag-and-drop no-code systems inherently aren’t 100 percent flexible like code or low-code systems, robust no-code platforms offer virtually infinite possibilities.

Security 

No-code platforms have been developed with an eye toward the highest levels of security, so changes and connections among processes and data remain fully secure. Unlike traditional development processes, which often lead to security vulnerabilities as part of the process, no-code systems have proven built-in security. New features and integrations can be added all the time without any security issues.

Greater flexibility 

A business already depends on specific applications that have been in use for years. However, not all the applications do exactly what is required. No-code platforms allow for greater flexibility and the business process owners to take a greater role in developing the specific applications they need. 

No-code platforms allow the applications to quickly evolve as business needs change. For example, the employee payroll system works well for calculating U.S. tax withholding but doesn’t have a module that handles international employees. A no-code platform can be used to build the missing piece.

Scalable

Most no-code platforms are enterprise-focused, so they can scale as necessary, managing thousands of complex business scenarios and workflows. No-code platforms are specifically designed to handle multitudes of business practices across industries. The drag-and-drop development combined with the massive volume of steps in the library and API connectivity allow for fast creation of workflows, forms, business rules, and connectivity with existing systems. 

Furthermore, as business rules evolve, they can be changed “on-the-fly” by the business users themselves without affecting productivity – or requiring them to wait for development personnel to make the changes.

While no-code software doesn’t prevent the need for training, its drag-and-drop approach makes it easy for even the novice to build a workflow or process. If the thousands of options don’t cover every business requirement, no-code solutions can even be “low-code” as necessary, as many come with SDKs.

Get the advantages of no-code 

When it comes to low-code versus no-code, no-code encompasses much more than what low-code offers, accelerating time to market, and speeding achievement of business process automation across the entire organization. Basically, no-code offers all the advantages of low-code while avoiding the disadvantages.

For more information about our no-code business process automation platform, please contact us.

Jocelyn Terilli
Jocelyne Terilli is the Digital Marketing Director at Decisions and manages all digital marketing programs including SEO, SEM, email marketing, and conversion rate optimization.

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