Businesses must develop and keep up with the rising digital era. While many MNCs, SMEs and startups increasingly recognize the need of digitizing their operations, it can be difficult for those that are unable to find answers through traditional means.

Businesses in the early stages of implementing machine learning might benefit from low-code choices. They are not only simple to use, but they also speed up the development process because you do not have to write the complete code by hand. Thanks to these technologies, it is now feasible to design even more complicated programs without paying a lot of money, waiting for days or months, or hiring many engineers.

For less experienced data science teams, low-code platforms are the greatest solutions. You don’t have to be a coding expert to create outstanding applications. Modern low-code or no-code platforms ensure that you write little code while still creating applications that explain innovation and drive your business.

With the assistance of business low-code development platforms, you can avoid all of the time-consuming hassles and build better and more effective data and AI solutions in much less time. In this article, we’ll go over this in further detail and see how it might benefit your business. Then we’ll talk about the best low-code platforms for you.

Low-code is a visual approach to software development that optimizes the whole development process to save development time. Low-code allows you to abstract and automate every phase of the application lifecycle to speed up the deployment of a wide range of solutions. By breaking down conventional business and IT silos (supporting continuous cooperation), your company may design solutions that match the demands of your business.

In that regard, Gartner predicts that low-code application building would gather more than 65% of all app development functions by the year 2024 and with about 66% of big companies using a minimum of four low-code platforms. According to Fabrizio Biscotti, Research Vice President at Gartner, while low-code application development is not new, a convergence of digital disruptions, hyper-automation, and the emergence of compassable business has led to an influx of tools and increased demand.

Every business has a unique set of specialized difficulties that necessitate customized solutions. Traditional development is capable of developing unique applications, but at a significant expense in terms of budget, development time, go-to-market time, and timely maintenance. As a result, it is not a desirable scenario for the majority of businesses/organizations.

Low-code development platforms, on the other hand, provide organizations with the appropriate tools for application development. It boosts an organization’s overall efficiency, morale, and production. Certain criteria can be used to differentiate between low-code and traditional development. It’s depicted in the infographic below.

A low-code development platform is an app development platform that allows you to build business and mobile apps with little to no coding knowledge. Put another way, low-code development platforms allow you to circumvent the normal lengthy coding procedures by giving you a location to “sketch” your application. This means you don’t have to worry about line-by-line coding and can instead focus on building your application in the form of a flowchart.

While you may be forced to use the market’s current programs or maintain a plethora of papers and spreadsheets, low-code has risen to fill the void and serve as a third choice. Low-code platforms are getting prominence because they provide a simple and quick alternative to traditional development procedures. As a result, both entrepreneurs with no formal coding abilities and expert developers are turning to these platforms to suit their company needs, such as developing an app, automating processes, and accelerating digital transformation.

- Increased productivity: No-code platforms enable you to create more apps in less time. Because you don’t have to write huge lines of code and have numerous options for automating operations, you can develop apps in days, if not hours.

- Reduced costs: Launch more and more quickly! You can also save money that you would have spent on employing more engineers and using a variety of different development tools.

- Business agility: These platforms enable you to develop fluid apps that can run on numerous platforms and devices. Users may access and use data regardless of where they are or what time it is.

- Effective governance: Regulations change often, making it challenging for enterprises to stay up. Low-code platforms can assist you in meeting and complying with these rules in order to remain risk-free.

Now, as promised, let’s have a look at some of the greatest low-code platforms highlighted in the Gartner Magic Quadrant!

In this updated Magic Quadrant, Gartner has identified 12 of the most prominent corporate low-code application platform suppliers in the industry. The authors of the research evaluated each provider’s strengths and weaknesses and graded them on the “Magic Quadrant” chart, which tells readers how effectively each provider can carry out their goal. The four quadrants in the illustration are leaders, challengers, niche players, and visionaries. Gartner updates its evaluation criteria to reflect new market trends, therefore the Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms in 2021 will differ from the previous year’s study. The following is a complete list of each category and the businesses that fall under it.

Mendix has the top spot in this Magic Quadrant. Mendix Platform, its multi experience development platforms (MXDP) product, focuses on assisting designers and developers in the creation of a wide range of multi experience applications, with a particular emphasis on IoT and digital twin use cases.

Mendix, as an autonomous Siemens company, retains its own identity while using Siemens’ global footprint across industrial sectors to offer its features. Mendix’s clients are generally big and medium businesses. Mendix is concentrating its efforts in China, as well as on offering immersive, ambient applications at the edge.

OutSystems is a leader in this Magic Quadrant. The OutSystems Platform, its MXDP product, enables the development of online, mobile, progressive web, and wearable apps, as well as the easy integration of conversational and AR/VR applications.

OutSystems’ low-code platform boosts development teams’ efficiency by concentrating on the construction of reusable components including UI, headless, business logic, processes, integrations, and edge deployments. Its activities are globally dispersed, and it has a sizable installed base of enterprise clients. OutSystems was a pioneer in MXDPs and is well-funded for future expansion.

Salesforce is positioned as a Leader in this Magic Quadrant. Its MXDP is the Salesforce Customer 360 platform, which comprises Heroku, Salesforce Mobile SDK, Mobile Publisher, Einstein Voice, and Einstein Bot Builder, and may be used to facilitate multi experience development by nontechnical business users as well as professional developers using complex SDKs.

Its activities are geographically diverse, and its clients are drawn from a wide range of sectors. Salesforce’s new multi cloud platform infrastructure, Hyperforce, underpins the Customer 360 Platform and other Salesforce products. Hyperforce supports public cloud providers with cloud-native architecture, allowing businesses to develop multi-experience apps with higher security, performance, and scale. By 2022, Hyperforce will be implemented in a number of other nations.

In this Magic Quadrant, SAP is a leader. The SAP Extension Suite, which powers the SAP Business Technology Platform, is its MXDP product, and it includes SAP AppGyver, SAP Business Application Studio, SAP Conversational AI, SAP Mobile Development Kit (MDK), and the SAP Fiori design system and design platform. Its core product is to enable users to construct SAP MX applications utilizing no-code, low-code, or pro-code methodologies.

SAP’s activities are global, and its customers are generally major corporations from a variety of sectors. SAP’s Fiori design system and platform continue to invest in the designer experience, while also delivering an integrated developer environment for a productive DesignOps experience.

In this Magic Quadrant, Appian is a Challenger. Its MXDP solution is positioned as a lowcode automation platform for mobile, web, conversational, wearables, and IoT apps.

Its activities are based in North America, but it is also expanding in the EMEA and APAC areas. Its clients are largely significant corporations in the banking and government sectors. Appian developed a container for its Self-Assembling Interface Layer (SAIL) architecture in 2020 to enable offline running of dynamic mobile apps. This is backed by a business rule execution language for dynamic UX logic, as well as offline local processing of sophisticated application logic.

In this Magic Quadrant, Pega is a Niche Player. Pega Infinity’s MXDP solution focuses on mobile, AR, IoT, and conversational app development for both power users and professional developers.

Pega’s activities are global, and its MXDP is utilized by significant organizations in the banking, finance, and insurance industries, as well as the telecommunications and public sectors. Pega’s DX-API and Process Fabric hub enable developers with extensive options for building a BFF for standard microservices development, but its product roadmap lacks any MXDP features that distinguish it from rivals.

In this Magic Quadrant, XOne is a niche player. The XOne platform, which is its MXDP product, comprises XOne Studio, XOne Server, GXTest, and Virtual Agent. The XOne platform comprehensively covers the application development life cycle for corporate applications. This includes XOne for SAP, a platform version that is intended to expand S/4HANA to online and mobile experiences.

Its operations are predominantly concentrated in Europe, and its clientele are mostly from the transportation & logistics, retail, technology, and government sectors. XOne has created a Virtual Agent to improve the development experience by recommending the best next steps to developers. It has also purchased XOne Storyboard and XOne Playground, two minor sellers of visual development and low-code solutions.

In this Magic Quadrant, Neutrinos is a Niche Player. The Neutrinos MXDP platform allows for the development of web, mobile, progressive web, and IoT apps, as well as the simple integration of conversational apps developed on other frameworks. It does not support the construction of AR/VR apps.

Because the Neutrinos platform is built on open-source technology, clients may avoid vendor lock-in. Its activities are geographically dispersed, and the majority of its clientele are small enterprises. Its technology, which combines a low-code development platform with distinctive integration capabilities, assists businesses in converting consumer experiences to digital experiences. Despite its tiny size, the company’s revenue is rapidly increasing.

In this Magic Quadrant, Neptune Software is a niche player. Its MXDP solution, Neptune DXP, provides a wide range of applications, with a focus on front-end applications to SAP back ends. The platform may be used to create online, progressive web, augmented reality, mobile, and edge-focused IoT apps, as well as to integrate into conversational solutions. Its low-code development platform allows both amateur and professional developers to employ components to create programs.

Its operations are mostly centered on Europe, including subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and the United States. Customers of Neptune Software include small and medium-sized businesses, as well as big organizations and government agencies, with the majority being small and medium-sized firms. Because of Neptune’s concentration on developing apps that provide access to SAP, it is appealing to enterprises who employ SAP applications.

In this Magic Quadrant, GeneXus is a Visionary. Its MXDP product suite includes GeneXus Server, GeneXus Web, GeneXus BPM Suite, and GXTest, all of which are geared at producing digital experiences across all modalities. GeneXus has enhanced its online, augmented reality, and conversational app platform capabilities.

Its operations are mostly concentrated in South America and the Asia-Pacific area, with a little presence in North America. GeneXus offers regionally tailored platforms. Its clientele are mostly SMBs and small businesses. GeneXus will launch a Chinese-language version of its platform in 2020. It is also investing in the development of “superapps” leveraging prominent platforms from worldwide consumer app marketplaces.

In this Magic Quadrant, ServiceNow is a Visionary. With technologies such as UI Builder, Mobile Studio, Virtual Agent Designer, and IoT Bridge, its MXDP product, Now Platform, enables the building and deployment of web, mobile, and chat apps.

ServiceNow has over 13,000 people and controlled data centers on five continents by 2020. Its clients include mostly big and medium businesses in the government, retail, industrial, banking, healthcare, and education sectors. The ServiceNow plan includes adding in-platform support for augmented reality app development through wayfinding and improving the chat app experience with speech capabilities.

In this Magic Quadrant, HCL Software is a Visionary and a new entrant for 2021. HCL Volt MX, its MXDP product, offers a wide range of MX use cases, with a focus on assisting clients in creating unique mobile experiences (using both native apps and PWAs). Its activities are regionally diverse, and its clientele are mostly huge corporations. Manufacturing, energy and utilities, government, healthcare, and retail are the key industries it targets.

HCL continues to expand on the robust MXDP platform it employs through an exclusive agreement with Temenos. HCL intends to invest in an AI developer kit as well as an AI-augmented development experience.

In this Magic Quadrant, Builder.ai is a Visionary. Its MXDP solution is based on common components found in apps and employs AI and machine learning to combine components and rapidly construct new applications. This method enables both developers and non-technical business users to automatically construct the required functionalities (often by mirroring the functionality of other applications with which the user is familiar).

Builder.ai’s activities are primarily focused on APAC and the United States, with plans to expand into Europe and the Middle East. It collaborates with Microsoft and provides its platform on AWS and Azure. Its clients come from a variety of industries, including many from retail and education.

The easier it is to create and deploy functioning apps to perform a given activity or solve a specific problem on a team or across your business, the more effectively you will be able to meet any unexpected requirements. Businesses have begun to resort to low-code development platforms in an effort to make the app-creation process easier on the IT department while also making it more accessible to common business customers.

As a Mendix solution partner, Kyanon Digital works hard to ensure this partnership has the goal of accelerating digital transformation for our clients by providing excellent low-code solutions from Mendix. We’re also keen to dramatically boost the development of new apps, enhance the power of pre-built and customized low-code solutions, and expand the business ecosystem.

Depending on your organization’s goals, any of these tools might be appropriate for assisting it in getting started with low-code app development. With the support of Kyanon Digital’s experienced experts, we can assist you in choosing the most optimal low-code development platform for your business, hence boosting productivity and solving business problems faster. Please contact us if you want to learn more about our additional products and how we can help you complete your digital transformation journey effectively and successfully.