What is a ‘No Code’ Software Solution?

The demand for computer programmers continues to exceed the available supply, not only in America but also in the rest of the world. With nearly 70% of all companies in the United States having adopted some form of digital transformation, there aren’t enough competent coders to handle the bulk of the software development work. That’s precisely where the “no code” solution to programming in business comes in.

The solution decentralizes writing computer programs for enterprises from a task that can only be done by software developers to one which is accessible by non-programmers. With no code, any professional can use a few specialized tools to create software products your company can deploy immediately. A key benefit associated with this is that the business won’t have to hire expensive coders to build modules and standalone applications. The savings can be directed to other areas of the enterprise such as research and development.

One of the main arguments for hiring expensive programmers to handle the software aspects of production is that the no code solutions don’t offer the ability to build complex applications. The proponents of coding solutions claim that you need a professional who is competent in computer languages such as Python or Java to build advanced applications.

Well, with no code, this isn’t the case. You’ll be able to have your non-tech employees build programs that can run simple tasks and can be scaled to handle lots of data, complex logic, and arithmetic. Some of the products that can be created using no code are so robust that the customer won’t tell them apart from the ones developed through IDE solutions. Now that we have established the meaning of no code, let’s see how it relates to low code.

What is the Difference Between ‘No Code’ and ‘Low Code’ Solutions?

When looking at low code vs no code, you’ll realize that the relationship between the two platforms is largely ‘transitory.’ That means low code is a functional predecessor to no code. While low code platforms require you to write some basic programming scripts, that isn’t necessary with no code. In the latter, the entire development is done through a familiar computer interface where you can drag and drop, resize items, and click on buttons.

Low code solutions emerged as way to assist non-IT professionals to enter the challenging world of software development with just the basic skills. Let’s look at a brief history of software development to understand where low code platforms came from as a concept.

From Machine Language Programming to Low Code Platforms

The most difficult and expensive kind of software development happens at the lowest level of computing, that is, machine coding. Such solutions were only common in the earliest days of computer programs when the first commercial PCs were introduced in the market.

Software developers were quick to realize that the programming career wouldn’t attract any coders if the professionals were required to use Assembly language, which isn’t human-readable. Low level languages weren’t feasible for software development.

Naturally, this gave rise to high level computer languages whose syntax looks a lot more like English. Languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP that are classified as high-level implementations of computer logic. How do computers understand such instructions if it can only execute binary numbers that correspond with on-off switches?

Glad you asked! Early programmers created compilers and interpreters that translated high-level instructions into a format that computers could understand. This change ushered in the software development career that millions of programmers cherish.

For several decades, the world has been using tens of high-level programming languages in various fields. Some of them include C and C++ in engineering, Java and C# in business applications, Objective C and Java on mobile development, and HTML and JavaScript on the web. However, the rate of program development through code has failed to keep up with the demand in nearly every area of human enterprise.

From Low Code to No Code Platforms

A major contributing factor to the problem is the overabundance of new information that has to be processed, thanks to the explosion of web use and the demand for more productivity and efficiency across all industries. The low code platforms emerged to solve this problem by proposing a translation layer between a visual editor and the code generating engine. Keep in mind that a professional using low code system for application development needs to write code, albeit faster and more efficiently since most of the heavy lifting is done by the translator.

As you may have guessed, not many non-programmers signed up for low code software development. The few that took up the challenge couldn’t satisfy the desire described above. Also, it turns out that low code platforms are better for programmers than non-programmers since they let them create solutions faster. Unsurprisingly, they still slow down non-coders such as accountants, financial analysts, artists, and so on. It was time to develop solutions that didn’t require any scripting!

No code platforms are similar to low code solutions in the basic functionality, that is, translation. However, no code solutions are much more advanced since they do not require the professional to have any knowledge about the underlying process. All you need to do is think about the software product you want to deploy and create it visually, never having to worry about how the computer will interpret or compile the instructions.

For the first time since the advent of commercial computers, businesses can develop their own software solutions without relying on coders. With this change, there are other important implications since a typical company had to hire a team of computer specialists to handle all its technological needs. This may explain why the IT department became a staple in many organizations. No code platforms have fundamentally shifted how organizations deal with software development while leading to major savings. Let’s see how.

The Disappearing Role of Software Development Teams

Before no code platforms, different types of organizations hired distinct software development teams to handle all the IT functions. A high-level software development team with a single product to manage consists of a director of development, scrum master, team leader, the developers, and testers. In this case, the product could be a website, standalone computer application, mobile app, or production module.

If there are several products to be developed on an overlapping timeline, the entire team has to be expanded so that there are more developers, testers, team leaders, scrum masters, and directors. In such cases, the directors are under the senior software engineer, who is likely to be a senior executive in the company. You may have heard of front-end and back-end developers.

Where do they come in exactly? As the nouns suggests, these are developers.

However, you’ll only have to worry about front vs. backend if the software has a customer and administrator version. A good example of this is a website. The end user is the person scrolling the page looking for information or watching a video.

On the other hand, the back-end user is the owner or administrator of the site responsible for ensuring that the content needed by the end user is availed on clicking different buttons or scrolling. Such products are created in duality for optimum functionality. Some developers specialize in coming up with a client side (pretty to look at and easy to use), while others work on the server side (powerful and robust to support the needs of the end user).

Low Development Costs

No code platforms not only reduce the number of IT professionals that a company has to hire but may eliminate the department altogether in some situations. Obviously, this is a win for small and medium enterprises since they may already be straining financially.

An entire software development team is necessary for most companies that rely on in-house applications for their core business. While many businesses, large and small, haven’t yet started using no code solutions, they’ve made strides in ensuring that production is agile and efficient. Majority of the firms that have invested heavily in software teams have an edge over the competition.

Most of the development costs incurred by companies that don’t use no code platforms help cover payroll. Some of the most important team members in a software development team are backend and frontend developers, quality assurance engineers, dev-ops, product designers, and project managers. Some of the companies that fall under this category use low code solutions since the platform doesn’t eliminate the need for raw program development.

A significant difference between the low-and-no code platforms is that the latter is not as expensive as the former. Depending on how much your business needs highly specialized software solutions, your company may not require a full software development team.

For instance, businesses operating in non-technical industries such as agriculture and management may not have any need for a software development team. The no code solution is enough for such companies. However, if the software demands are highly specialized, it’s better to think about the pros and cons of no code before making the final decision.

Popular No Code Systems

No code solutions have been in development for several years in the form of special programming engines, development framework, and content management frameworks (CMS). One critical thing you need to realize is that the translation engines that power most no code platforms require lots of resources and heavy computing power.

For this reason, many no code platforms rely on an internet connection so that the robust processing is carried out in specialized servers, allowing you to interact with the front-end aspects of the software development.

Additionally, no code platforms tend to be classified based on the functions that they perform. For example, there are solutions for web development, document processing, web automation, customer relationship management (CRM), and general corporate applications. The functional classification can be attributed to the fact that it is easier to build a no code platform that allows businesses to create advanced software solutions when focusing on a single business domain.

Document Processing

Document processing no code platforms will let your company to develop software that makes handling the information more efficient. An excellent example of such a solution is DocDigitizer, which is used for capturing data from documents, processing it, and returning structured output that can be utilized in information systems.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The no code solutions used in CRM tools help companies to create programs which manage interactions between the internal stakeholders, existing clients, and potential customers. Such applications are used for improving the relationship between a business and its most important stakeholders, the clients. Some examples of such platforms are Salesforce Lightning and Creatio.

Web Services and Applications

Arguably, the role of the internet has exploded within the past 10 years. Nearly every company in the world has or intends to establish itself on the web. Some popular solutions to do this have been proposed by social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, these don’t cut it since they are controlled by a third party, that is, the owners of the platforms.

Having a website, a blog, and a few web apps is an excellent way for a business to attract new customers through this domain. Some of the most popular no code platforms were built with web presence in mind, such as WordPress and Zapier.

As you can see, there are a variety of no code platforms depending on the kind of software applications you want for your company.

Conclusion

As noted earlier, DocDigitizer is a document processing automation enabler that doesn’t require the professional to have any programming skills. The platform uses machine learning and OCR technology to read and process data. The solution uses highly trained algorithms to not only determine what professionals want to capture, but also learn their preferences, further boosting productivity.

Some of the notable features of DocDigitizer include the absence of a setup process, payment per document pricing, a plug-and-play API, and focus on accuracy. With the platform, you don’t need to think about running code to obtain the results you want- the use of machine learning ensures that the platform continuously adjusts its functionality to match the unique needs of your company.