Low-Code Automation is a special type of software development that doesn’t rely on coding conventions, standards, or tools. Instead, it’s catered towards automating those tasks that are tedious and repetitive. In other words: it does not require a high degree of code literacy.
The results speak for themselves: with low-code automation, you can eliminate a lot of manual steps and focus on creating quality code. The best part? It’s pretty cheap to set up and maintain once you know where to look (and what to expect). Read on to learn more…
What is Low-code Automation?
Low-code automation doesn’t rely on codes, conventions, or tools to function. Instead, it’s catered towards automating tasks that are tedious and repetitive. This can range from simple code changes to larger-scale system modifications. With low-code automation, you can eliminate a lot of manual steps and focus on creating quality code.
For example, website development doesn’t rely on coding conventions, standards, or tools — it only requires you to input the content and let the engine do the rest. Thus, it can be done by a low-code automation tool. Similarly, office tasks like creating reports or scheduling meetings with staff don’t require significant coding or tools knowledge.
How Does Low Code Automation Work?
A low-code automation solution starts by analyzing your code and providing you with data-driven recommendations on how to make your code more efficient, relatively speaking, by translating the task into data rather than code. The automation solution then uses that data to create a visual representation of your code, which it then spits out as a low-code, drag-and-drop visual programming interface.
From there, you can code until your heart’s content. The automation solution will do the heavy lifting for you. Let’s say you want to convert a number from one currency to another. Automation would give you the option to create a function that takes in the number and converts it to another currency.
The automation solution would take that number and make a visual representation of it using a drop-down menu of available options. From there, you can code until your heart’s content. The automation solution will do the heavy lifting for you.
Evolution of Low Code Automation
Low-code automation rose to prominence in the early 2000s thanks to the popularity of the original Amazon Alexa digital assistant. At the time, developers were building voice assistants and natural language processing (NLP) engines with various levels of automation.
The most popular automation solution at the time was Capistrano, an open-source automation framework developed by Automation Planet. With hundreds of thousands of users and growing, low-code automation has evolved greatly from its humble beginnings.
Today, there are many different types of low-code automation tools, with different features and use cases. Some examples include:
Scheduled Execution
This is one of the most common uses of low-code automation. With it, you can create triggers that run code at set times or intervals. This is one of the most common uses of low-code automation. With it, you can create triggers that run code at set times or intervals.
REST API
Similar to scheduled execution, the API solution allows you to create triggers that execute codes only when triggered. Similar to scheduled execution, the API solution allows you to create triggers that execute codes only when triggered. SDK: This is the low-code automation engine that runs on your server. It allows you to create triggers and execute codes on your behalf.
Why Low-code Automation is Unique?
If you’re like most people, you spend your day writing code. But there is another way to look at it: you spend your day writing code that automates tedious tasks.
In other words: you use low-code automation to “delegate” manual work. There are a few distinct advantages of low-code automation over other development solutions:
No Coding Conventions Needed
There are no coding conventions, standards, or tools that you need to know to use low-code automation.
No Resources Expense
Other than the obvious cost of putting infrastructure in place, no additional expenses are incurred by using low-code automation.
No Hurdles in Advantages
Once you’ve set up low-code automation, there are no hurdles in moving forward that you might have to overcome on your own. No more hunting through code looking for inconsistencies, wrong formats, etc. You just wait for the automation to do the work for you.
Benefits of Using Low-code Automation
No Impact on Quality
Quality is king in software development. If you leave it up to chance to add the right lines of code together, the result may not be the best code possible. Numerous studies have shown that 80% of quality issues are caused by either human or material errors. With low-code automation, you can eliminate a lot of manual steps and focus on creating quality code.
The fact that you don’t have to spend time learning a new language, standard, or tool doesn’t mean that your code quality will shoot through the roof. You’ll likely experience a decline in quality as you scale up from coding in a specific language.
That said, the best code is always going to be written with care. Lacking that, low-code automation can still produce code that is error-free and delivers value to the customer.
Ease-of-use
The idea of easy and simple is often overblown when it comes to programming. After all, good programming is not easy. Easy programming is correct code, written by a programmer who knows how to code. Valid code, written properly, with no shortcuts taken or incorrect assumptions made. With low-code automation, you can eliminate a lot of manual steps and focus on creating quality code.
Increased Productivity
This might seem like an odd benefit to citing for a tool that’s meant to make your life easier, but hear me out: increased productivity is great for businesses. With low-code automation, you can eliminate a lot of manual steps and focus on creating quality code. While it might sound like a no-brainer for development teams, the truth is that low-code automation is probably the most effective way to add new features to an existing product.
With less effort from you, your team, and your customers, you can focus on growing your business by creating more value for your customers.
Easily Testable
When it comes to testing, you must start at the top. With low-code automation, you don’t have to spend time researching why your product is broken, what steps need to be taken to fix it, or who needs to do what until you’ve finished the project.
All you have to do is change one line of code, and you’ll instantly have a full system to test. With no additional effort or research required, you can focus on actually creating value for your customers and stakeholders.
Possible Downsides of Low-code Automation
As great as low-code automation is, it comes with a few trade-offs:
Coding Conventions
To be clear, low-code automation does not require you to learn new or different codes. However, some tasks are easier to develop with certain conventions. For example, you may prefer to use lowercase for all elements of your code, including your titles, messages, and so on.
Long-Running Tasks
Low-code automation has proven to be incredibly effective when it comes to short-running tasks like running reports or sending emails. However, this level of automation is not required for many aspects of the business.
Long-running activities like creating a new product, getting it approved by stakeholders, and launching it in production can be automated with tools like Zapier.
Introducing Zapier Low-code Automation Tool
Most integrations these days are built using tools. A quick Google search will provide dozens of examples of tools being used to implement integrations. While these tools may work well, pairing them together can be a challenging task.
Luckily, there’s an easier way. Introducing Zapier as a Low-code Automation Tool If you’re interested in integrating a low-code automation tool like Zapier, the best way to do it is to use the integrations as the basis.
With them as a foundation, you can build your application on top of them. After all, they are designed to work together! Once you have a basic understanding of how they work, you can move on to the more advanced functionality.
Conclusion
Low-code automation is a tool that allows developers to create software without leveraging their expertise in code. Low-code automation can be a game-changer for your business. It does not require a high degree of code literacy, the results speak for themselves
Rather than learning new code conventions, standards, or tools, low-code automation is focused on automating tasks that require minimal effort. While it might not be as flexible or granular as other automation solutions, it does a great job of automating repetitive tasks.
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