Low-code development platforms – a visual approach to creating software that involves little to no actual code – have seen a spike in interest lately as software companies look to create applications in less time than it takes using traditional software development methods.
Riding this wave of popularity, Mendix – a provider of low-code development tools – has recently been named a “Leader” in the low-code development platform sector by Forrester in their Forrester Wave: Low-Code Development Platforms for Professional Developers report. The Forrester Wave scorecard looks at Low-Code platforms and rates them based on 27-criterion. Some of the criterion Forrester uses includes looking at applications that:
- Address both data-centric and process-centric development patterns
- Provide tools suitable across a range of developer personas
- Meet specific infrastructure, architecture, and development process requirements
Mendix was one of 14 companies in the low-code development space that were signaled out. This honor comes on the heels of several other major recent announcements from Mendix. The first is the release of Mendix 9, a new, all-in-one architecture that brings “low-code to process automation” and “further empowers citizen developers.”
The second announcement has to do with the acquisition of TimeSeries by Siemens. The move was made to assist enterprise businesses and ISVs in the acceleration of their digitization efforts.
Benefits of Low-Code Software Development
The term low-code references the idea of creating applications and software with little to no code. Low-code tools can include a wide array of apps and frameworks, but generally speaking, they refer to software development platforms, as in the case of Mendix and others mentioned in the Forrester report.
Read: Low-Code: How Will Impact Developers?
One of the most significant benefits of low-code platforms is the ability to increase productivity across the IT board. Low-code allows software development teams to use automation tools and development tools that lessen the application development lifecycle. This greater productivity, in turn, lets software vendors release software faster and with a lower development budget than a lot of traditional app developers.
Another great benefit of low-code app development is that it allows developers to react to changes in the marketplace rapidly. Enterprise developers can assess a situation and pivot where needed based on sudden market changes or needs.
Finally, low-code software creation reduces the amount of maintenance a developer might experience on a day-to-day basis. With pre-made components and modules, fewer bugs and errors occur, reducing the amount of time, energy, frustration, and money a development team has to waste fixing issues in code.
