When to use and Not to Use a Low-code Platform.
Getting started with a low-code platform
A low-code platform can be a great accelerator towards a company's success; if well implemented. However, sometimes it is not very clear if this is the right fit for you. Read our following recommendations for when to use a Low Code platform:
1. When your company has specific pains, short and concise issues to resolve.
2. When need to automate a single workflow:
If you have a workflow dependent on spreadsheets, they soon become troublesome, *specially if shared with others*. With a low-code you can create forms, tables, business logic, validations, and much more which are not provided by spreadsheets.
3. When you don't have software development skills:
You can do a solution on your own. May be basic, yet better than having no solution at all
Where a low-code platform does not work
Our recommendations are the following:
1. Speed to market is critical
Low-code platforms generally do not handle versioning, which means that there's only a single version of the same app. This forces you to make a copy of an existing version so that new development can be tested in the copy, and if all is OK then the updates are replicated into the live app.
This poses the problem that no more than a single developer can work in an app. If two or more developers are working on the same app, one can override the other. Low-code platforms do not merge updates made by developers, it overrides them. The fact that just one person can work on it, makes the development time slower and poses a risk on the velocity of the project. With apps built from scratch, a whole team can work concurrently making the deliveries quicker too.
2. When the app is large or very large
Large or x-large apps can be as complex to build in a low-code platform compared to scratch. The fact that large projects require additional critical stages such as discovery session, design, development, testing, deployment, you won't be able to remove this software development process using a low code platform.
3. When you want to keep the investment asset for yourself
With low-code the investment is made in a platform where you cannot extract the code, nor business logic. If you stop paying the platform, your app may be gone.
4. When you want to scale up
As you add more and more features, the complexity of the low-code app increases significantly. You need to deal with the limitation implicit in the platform. With low-code, you don't control the underlying infrastructure. The best you could do is ask the platform to provide you with a dedicated infrastructure which is likely going to cost you lots.
We outline a comparative table of low code platforms we have tried in the past according to different variables to take into consideration when starting a project: