Theissue of using NoCode / LowCode solutions is becoming more and more relevant within companies (as shown in the December 2022 CIGREF report - "New Low Code / No Code development practices").
This approach was initially driven by the Business Units, in particular through "innovator" profiles within the operational teams, to accelerate the technological response to operational needs.
The results are applications of low complexity (a simple business gesture), with little or no integration with the IS, which often remain local, and which provide an appreciable service but often limited in time or space.
The more complex needs, equipping larger or more collaborative processes and which could be addressed with LowCode / NoCode platforms, are often, for the moment, put aside.
When it is an application for a complex business process, the questions of integration (in terms of information flow), durability and security arise.
A fortiori, when it is no longer a question of talking about a business need, but a whole range of potential needs, the notion of integrating these platforms into the Information System Evolution Strategy, and therefore of DEPLOYING the potential of a NoCode / LowCode platform must be taken into account.
To draw a parallel, the same question arose when it came to thinking about the circulation of information in the company, or the availability of data for business.
These reflections did not lead to the implementation of a myriad of technical solutions to meet a myriad of needs, but to the deployment of a few solutions to meet a "strategically necessary" function, and the principles of rationalization and urbanization (technical or functional) drove the choice of the solution(s) put in place.
For the use of NoCode / LowCode platforms, "non immediately functional" elements (i.e. not only addressing a "localized and precise" need that would simply concern a functional or technical element), the choice must be made for DEPLOYABLE platforms. This notion of deployment must be preceded by a higher level of thought, the strategic need, and then accompanied by an organizational reflection.
NoCode : The Why
Let's assume that the "Why" answers these two questions:
- The growing need for business applications or their professionalization;
- The increasing difficulty in finding technical skills.
This last point is a bottleneck, and the NoCode / LowCode platforms respond to it by expanding the community of "doers" (profiles capable of building and maintaining applications). They can be operational business people, or project profiles (project manager, consultant trained to the platform, ...) with low technical skills and strong project, organization and business components.
NoCode : The For What
For what kind of needs (the "For What") can we use a NoCode / LowCode platform? This question will allow us to sort out the different solutions for a need, but also (and especially) to sort out ... the needs. It is a question here of evoking the functional aspect as well as the complexity and "width of the collaboration" (1000 users on the same subject), or the stage of the life cycle of the need (a test or a complete application?), the technical performance (micro-trading in NoCode ... complicated).
For example, we could use a platform to prototype and test the contributions of mobile applications for simple business gestures, then another to tool more complex needs.
We will be able to use a platform whose intrinsic qualities correspond well to a complete functional pan (create websites, replace the Excels of company of budgetary or operational planning, develop mobile applications, ...).
No Code / Low Code platforms provide global solutions to a "type of need". It is difficult to imagine a "universal" platform capable of doing everything. For a company, especially a large one, this means choosing a solution capable of responding quickly and specifically, today and tomorrow, to the multiplication of business demands.
Or, as someone would say, without mastery, power is nothing.
NoCode: keeping control
By accelerating the creation and modification of business applications, a LowCode / NoCode platform can accelerate the appearance of contradictions, inconsistencies, duplications, duplication of repositories ...
It is therefore a matter of adapting the use of the platform to the "Control VS Autonomy" culture of the company, and of organizing the governance of the use of the platform between the stakeholders.
This governance will place the cursor of the autonomy of the Business Units at the right place, which will contribute to a correct rationalization by avoiding the multiplication of applications, flows or functional incoherence.
A NoCode / LowCode platform must necessarily allow for the distribution of its implementation and management functions (Build, Run, Administration) between IT, Businesses and potentially an external actor, such as an integrator.
Ideally, the platform should enable this autonomy cursor to be placed in a differentiated manner according to the functional area, the type of need, and the application itself. Some businesses or teams have a "natively" structured approach to responding to a need, while others are less used to collective or shared decision-making. Some applications are at the end of the value chain and can, without too much risk, be modified without global consultation. Others are too central for that and will require a larger impact study.
The reflection on the organization to be set up for a deployment can be done during the first use of the platform, on a first subject, thanks to the collaboration work between the Business, the IT, the editor and / or the integrator.
And in order for this thinking to be put into practice, a No Code platform must offer complete and extremely detailed rights management. This is what will allow, in fine, the passage from an "immediate response to a local need" to a "response over time to a business need".
There are also many issues that need to be addressed. It is obvious, for example, that the notion of integration in the information system also deserves solid reflection. However, administration capabilities are rarely scrutinized carefully enough, and rights management does not have a "Whaaaou" effect.
NoCode : AllKeyMe
Our SaaS platform NoCode ALLKEYME is designed to provide an application "universe" for a type of need, covered today by spreadsheets (planning and monitoring of budgets, supply and operations, ...) and largely meets the recommendations of CIGREF.
Its use always starts with a precise need, which reveals all its richness.
Then, a universe opens up.
