Tag: low-code applications

VSoft archITekt – How to automate startup processes in a week (7 evenings)

The slogan "startup" is very often associated with a technology company (sometimes fintech) that builds software tailored to its needs inhouse. It seems that there is no place for the use of low-code platforms in such conditions. They offer great business opportunities, but due to their generic nature, they also introduce certain limitations in the implementation of the required application. It may be unacceptable for a startup. There is a lot of truth in this, but only for new ventures that focus strictly on software. A large proportion (if not most) of startups operate in the world of innovative but physical products or services. In this case, the software only supports the company's operation, and its implementation should not be too absorbing for the founder. On the other hand, in many cases, we are talking about an innovative and non-standard production process, which makes ready-made ERP software useless. This is where the low-code platform VSoft archITekt comes in handy. Case study Let’s c...

Unusual logistics processes in a manufacturing company – how to deal with them?

Unusual logistics processes have long been a challenge for companies whose business model is to make short batches of bespoke products. Until now, most companies have had to manually handle every step of the process. Rapidly developing technology and low-code platforms, which are gaining in popularity, come to the rescue in such cases. They provide the possibility to create applications tailored to the individual needs of a manufacturing company and map the actual processes occurring in logistics. Thanks to their use, order processing can be performed considerably faster and more efficiently. Which logistics processes may be challenging?  The main task of logistics in a manufacturing company is to optimally manage the flow of raw and semi-finished materials and the resulting final products to be delivered to the customer. This involves a number of various stages, such as the organisation of procurement, warehousing, distribution of goods and handling of returns. All of this requires extremely careful plann...

How can low-code help a manufacturing company?

Regardless of what area a manufacturing company operates in - almost all seem to face similar challenges. Whether it's the food industry, heavy machinery manufacturing or perhaps a pharmaceutical company - evolving systems, computerisation and process automation affect the way a business operates. To keep up with the technologically developing world, you might need to hire a professional and constantly learning, and preferably a large team of IT specialists. Manufacturing companies rarely have a vast pool of such specialists, they are usually individuals. Fortunately, today's low-code solutions offer assistance that proves almost invaluable given the high demand for IT workers and relatively low supply of them.   What is low-code? Using a low-code development platform (LCDP) consists in replacing traditional programming by a manually typed code with the possibility of applying tools that are mostly (but not entirely!) available in a graphical form and allow for software development by the ...

archITekt – Generating documents in investment advisory

After publication of my last post, "How to Create a Mail Merge System in 5 Easy Steps", I received a lot of feedback from users of our platform. It turned out that I focused on how to build a complete application, but I passed over the extensive capabilities of the Document Generation Module itself.   In the following paragraphs I will try to make up for it by using an example of an advisory and sales process for investment products.   A day in the life of an advisor   Imagine an investment advisor. She acts like a broker in the sale of various types of financial products and at the same time advises clients on their choice. As it is with bigger amounts and long-term obligations, each of her proposals must be delivered in the form of the written offer.   In addition to typical elements (customer data, investment size, security), such a document contains descriptions of the proposed products and specification of all options selected by the customer. It also depicts a simulation of costs and reven...

How to create a system for mail merge in 5 simple steps

The need to generate and send personalized documents or otherwise, mail merge is still very common in many companies. It is used in communication with clients or partners. Formerly, printed and sent by post, now the same documents are sent to customers by e-mail. There are many business cases here: invoices, settlements, various types of letters and contracts.   Companies deal with this challenge in two different ways:   In large organizations, IT team implements specialized modules which, after integration with other systems, generate documents on demand. Unfortunately, these modules are often very "technical": integration requires programming work and document templates must be prepared, for example, in the form of XSLT transforms (sic!). More often, however, companies use simple mechanisms such as mail merge available in MS Office or simply fill out documents by hand. Still, the lack of automation makes this process tedious and prone to human error.   Is there a ...

What is the role of low-code in an organization

There are some producers of low code platforms promising that with their tool you can build almost everything in nearly every situation. That’s an overpromise. And it’s toxic. I spoke to many CIO’s who had believed in such a message and were disappointed by reality they experienced afterwards.   My experience is that low code is not going to flood the entire IT market. It has its own role, hand in hand with bespoke software and out-of-the-box products.   Large organizations   Formerly, there was a golden rule for the IT landscape of large organizations to implement fully tailored solutions to support core business and to rely on out-of-the-box products in all areas of support. In effect, an organization could fully invest in custom development within the area that would differentiate it from the competition and bring the greatest added value. At the same time the company benefited from more affordable prices and business knowledge embedded in out-of-the-box products.     Sounds perfect, ...

Low-code solution for complex, high-performance systems? Sounds impossible. Or is it?

There is a stereotype that low-code platforms create software that is slow and limited in functionality. As with any stereotype, there is some truth to that, but not much.   To find out what the reality is, at first, we need to start with how high-performance systems are built using general-purpose programming languages. Let’s get to the bottom of this and then confront it with what low-code has to offer. Is custom programming really such a great advantage compared to low-code solutions? Or is it a drawback?   What makes software “slow”?   What does "slow" really mean in terms of a typical enterprise application? By "typical" I mean a 3-layer classic: Web UI + service backend + databases. "Slow" can come from:   Database queries being far from optimal - missing indexes, outdated statistics, bad join strategies etc. Unnecessary queries - missing caches or “chatty” algorithms assuming that fetching more data from database or external services is free and i...