Tag: low code

Low-code: does performance matter?

"Begin with the end in mind" that’s the second one of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. Does it apply when implementing a low-code platform? In my opinion, yes, and very much so.   I have recently had a talk with a potential customer who is having problems with a system based on low-code. The very construction and implementation of the system took place without any problems, but over time it turned out that the platform used is completely not adapted to the size of the business and is not able to support the required amount of data (although from the perspective of "traditional" systems, these volumes are nothing extraordinary).   Unfortunately, this pattern is repeated relatively often. There are many manufacturers of low-code platforms who have focused only on the fancy user interface and the speed of building small applications. However, they often lack experience or an idea how to approach more complex systems that appear in large organizations. They promise nirvana and u...

VSoft archITekt now available in the cloud

Our clients, in particular financial institutions, pay special attention to data security. For this reason, until recently, most of them preferred to store data on their own servers. Therefore, VSoft archITekt was used primarily in the on-premises model.   In recent years however, the perception of data storage has gradually changed. Companies not wanting to deal with maintaining their own servers are increasingly choosing to use cloud services.   To meet these needs, we have provided a service that allows you to run applications built on our platform in the cloud. Thanks to Microsoft Azure, it is possible to meet the highest standards in terms of availability and security.   Companies already having an Azure subscription, can now purchase archITekt from Azure Marketplace just like any other service. Users can conveniently install and run applications in the cloud, directly from archITekt Studio.   Our partners and clients appreciate flexibility, therefore archITekt is still available free of char...

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 ...

How to choose the right low-code platform?

A low-code tool can bring revolution to IT landscape of your company. It can boost development and prototyping of business applications if you suffer from lack of experienced programmers. In my personal opinion, it has tremendous value and you should at least consider it. But decision to use low-code is just the first step. There are many platforms available, and they differ from each other. To choose the one that is right for your needs, you need to answer yourself several questions. In the following article I’ll try to ask such questions and suggest possible answers.   What exactly are your business needs?   As many other things in IT, low-code is just a tool. It’s pointless to implement low-code just to “implement cool low-code”. Such approach may solve some of your challenges by accident, but at the same time it may generate many problems. To avoid that, firstly, you need to realize your business needs and determine deeper purpose for the tools you are going to implement.   Here are sev...

What is the difference between low-code and no-code?

The term “low-code” is not new. It has been coined by Forrester in 2014 to classify “development platforms that focused on development simplicity and ease of use. These platforms allowed developers and users of all skill levels to code applications, without having the outright need to know coding.” The trend caught on like wildfire. But in the meantime - frankly, I could not determine when exactly – the “no-code” term appeared. And it caused lot of confusion to determine what is what. In the following paragraphs I’ll try to show my point of view and clear it up.   The low-code / no-code definition   The trick is that at the first glance both terms seem to be self-explanatory. And many sources just define them as:   Low-code – platforms that speed up development by allowing to build rough applications graphically for further customization. They limit demand for coding, but still require such to build final product. No-code – platforms that allow to buil...

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...

Who is a Citizen Developer?

The "Citizen Developer" term seems to be almost as popular as low-code/no-code platforms themselves. At the first sight, its definition is quite simple:   The person from business department (not IT) who has basic IT knowledge and develops business applications   But it is a very broad description. Let’s go deeper and wonder:   Who exactly are such people? Where do they come from? What is their background?   I had a lot of discussions with my mates and clients about that. Here are the insights.   The most obvious candidates to become Citizen Developers are business owners of IT systems within the organization. They are responsible for implemented solutions. Regardless of whether the apps are out-of-the-box or custom implementations, the owners are forced to understand - on general technical level - what is "under the hood". Such experience gives them perfect background to get familiar with low-code tools and build software solutions ...

What is low-code?

If you are drawn to this article, you are probably trying to find out what hides behind "low-code" phrase.  I’ll try to provide you with an explanation.   According to wikipedia: "A low-code development platform (LCDP) provides a development environment used to create application software through a graphical user interface instead of traditional hand-coded computer programming. A low-coded platform may produce entirely operational applications or require additional coding for specific situations." So, what does it really mean? From my perspective the actual meaning of this definition is not focused on the way you use a tool to build an IT solution, but the competences you need to have to do so.   "Traditional" approach to software creation requires knowledge of one (or more) programming languages as well as complex development frameworks. With LCDP you just need general competence in IT. It’s enough to build a complete system, in most of the cases: without writing ev...