A Roadmap for Successful Low-Code Development for Businesses

In today’s dynamic environment, digitization is no longer a choice for both SMBs and enterprise-level organizations. In fact, it is something that businesses irrespective of their size or industry vertical can’t afford to ignore. This could be the reason why the hunt for a platform that improves agility, reduces cost, and expedites development has been a never-ending story. In other words, businesses are looking for Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools that help them stay afloat in demanding business environments and drive digital transformation at scale.

When it comes to developing value-driven business solutions in a quick turnaround time, the traditional application development approach falls short since it can’t meet the demand to quickly adapt and respond to evolving requirements. This is where the role of low-code comes into play. Low-code application development is nothing new. This popular software development approach has been around for years and continues to grab the attention of serial entrepreneurs, startup founders, established enterprises, and the C-suite audience. With rapid advancements being made in the low-code platform vertical, many players have emerged to address quick application development and deployment including Power Apps, OutSystems, Salesforce Lightning, Kissflow, Zapier, monday.com, and many more.

According to a ‘Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper’, 84% of enterprises across the United States, Canada, U.K., and Australia have adopted low-code to improve time-to-market and reduce the burden on IT resources. Gartner has also predicted that more than 65% of application development activity will be done through low-code. Furthermore, the global low-code development platform market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 27.8% during 2022–2030 and will reach a whopping 148.5 billion USD by 2030. Though low-code has been gaining strong momentum for years, it is not a panacea for all enterprise-related challenges. Like any business pivot, successful implementation of low-code requires a roadmap that reflects the vision and the development plan for enterprise-grade solutions. Documenting each step involved in the low-code app development process ensures smooth sailing. Read on to this informative piece to ace low-code application development in 2023 and beyond.

The 5-Step Roadmap for Successful Low-Code Application Development

Over the last few years, low-code platforms have proved to be a serious growth accelerator for SMBs and enterprise-level organizations since it allows them to transform their value-driven business idea into a revenue-generating solution – all at the back of strategic planning, typically, a roadmap. Let’s dig deeper into what the app development roadmap looks like when enterprises choose low-code.

• Understanding the Pain Point of Users
• Conduct Extensive Market Research
• Validate App Idea by Building an MVP
• Finalize the App Idea and Begin Development
• Deploy the Application

1. Understanding the Pain Point of Users

The first step for successful low-code application development is understanding the challenges faced by users. Without having a clear understanding of the underlying problem, it’s next to impossible to create a solution that caters to the actual needs. Therefore, identifying the pain points of customers and then developing a solution to address the problem act as a key differentiator, which decides the survival ability of the application. In other words, discovering the problems faced by the target audience helps businesses define a clear goal and mission for low-code app development.

2. Conduct Extensive Market Research

Before going into development, it’s considered wise to conduct exhaustive market research to validate the app idea in a real-world scenario. By doing so, enterprises can determine whether the low-code application development idea is worth the time, money, and effort that they are planning to invest. There are many ways to conduct market research and analyze the competitive landscape, including:

• Google Trends is one of the popular tools used by enterprises to determine the audience’s interest around their application development ideas.
• Conduct small online surveys with questions revolving around the novel app idea to get a clear picture of the prospective users’ requirements.
• Conducting a SWOT analysis before developing a low-code application brings enterprises a step closer to success.

3. Validate App Idea by Building an MVP

The one thing that is common among all the successful applications is that they have gone through multiple improvisations over a period of time and evolved incessantly through consistent customer feedback. Therefore, it seems viable to build a minimum viable product (MVP) with the core features to get unbiased and constructive feedback from potential users. In other words, building an MVP allows enterprises to validate their app development idea before launching a full-fledged low-code application loaded with rich features and functionalities that offer the best possible experience to users.

4. Finalize the App Idea and Begin Development

Once the app idea is validated by conducting extensive market research and receiving the most honest feedback from potential users, it’s time to finalize the idea and move to the development stage. When developing a low-code application, always make sure that the design of the application is supported by an unmatched user experience. A visually rich application with poor UX will always struggle for its acceptance among users. Therefore, it makes sense to seek help from a professional low-code app development company, if there are no budget constraints.

5. Deploy the Application

This is the final stage of the application development lifecycle. Once the application design and development are completed, it’s time to deploy the application to leverage the benefits offered by low-code applications.

Summing Up

Building a successful low-code application requires strategic planning and a time-tested framework that aligns with the vision and desired objectives. After reading this informative piece till the very end, hope you’ve got a roadmap that you have been looking for years to ace low-code app development. By religiously following all the steps aforementioned in the roadmap, you can build low-code applications successfully.

Confused if you should opt for Low Code Development? This article will help you finalize your decision, read here: Should You Consider Low-Code App Development?