Leveraging Low-Code/No-Code AI to Achieve Rapid Results
- AI, Software Development
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a crucial component of digital transformation efforts for companies across industries. IDC predicts that spending on AI-centric systems will surpass $300 billion in 2026. While many CEOs may be aware of the advantages of AI, they have trouble creating and deploying their own AI applications due to lengthy development cycles and/or missing the required skills and bandwidth. This is where low-code/no-code AI comes in.
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What is Low-Code/No-Code AI?
For the past few years, low-code/no-code platforms have been primarily used for the development of web and mobile apps. These platforms/frameworks enable developers and non-technical users to build applications through pre-built templates, drag-and-drop interfaces, and simple logic flows. This replaces much of the manual coding effort.
Now, amidst the growing interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), many low-code/no-code platforms incorporate AI capabilities. This enables rapid development of AI systems with minimal coding. With the right low-code/no-code platform, companies can experiment with AI and build solutions without the need for several data scientists or developers with deep AI expertise.
For instance, a business can use a pre-built machine learning model to forecast the risk of client loss. The only thing that must be done is to link the model to the relevant data sources and set up a simple workflow for model scoring and alerts. This can be accomplished using an easy-to-use graphic interface without writing any code.
Low-code/no-code AI democratizes complex technologies and makes them accessible to citizen developers, providing guidance through pre-built templates so users do not get overwhelmed by an unlimited number of possibilities.
Key Benefits of Low-Code/No-Code AI
Low-code/no-code has proven to deliver several key benefits to companies in support of their AI initiatives:
Faster Time-to-Market
The most significant advantage of leveraging low-code/no-code frameworks is the ability to build and deploy applications much faster. Instead of months or even years, you can build a functional prototype in weeks, sometimes days. This enables a faster response to emerging opportunities and/or competitive pressure.
For example, if a competitor launches an AI-powered chatbot for customer support, a business can quickly create its own chatbot with low-code/no-code instead of playing catch-up across several quarters. The quick time-to-market gives them the agility to respond to market trends.
Lower Barrier to AI Adoption
With low-code/no-code frameworks minimizing the complexities of coding, it is easier for non-technical staff to build applications leveraging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP). This democratizes AI across business units. As a result, productivity gains from automating tasks with AI can be realized more broadly across the business.
Rapid Iteration and Enhancement
The speed of development using low-code/no-code facilitates quick iterations on AI applications. can quickly gather user input, make changes to functionality, and release updates. Instead of trying to achieve perfection in a single, protracted release cycle, this approach enables your apps to continuously meet evolving business needs and customer expectations.
You may swiftly expand on current apps rather than starting from scratch as new use cases for AI emerge. This positions your company to maximize value from AI investments.
Lower Risk
The simple drag-and-drop interfaces of low-code/no-code platforms reduce the risk associated with complex hand-coded applications, especially if your development team does not have extensive experience in writing AI apps. The pre-built templates and guidelines help ensure applications meet security, compliance, and governance standards.
Common Misperceptions regarding Low-code/no-code
While low-code/no-code can deliver tremendous benefits, there is still a lot of resistance surrounding these frameworks, especially from IT leaders. Here are some common misconceptions about low-code/no-code AI:
Simplicity
Initially, low-code/no-code platforms were indeed limited to basic forms-over-data applications. However, modern platforms offer vast capabilities and hundreds of pre-built components for applications that span data integration, process automation, and predictive analytics and are rather complicated.
With the right low-code/no-code platform, you may create complex AI applications like predictive maintenance, estimating customer lifetime value, object identification for quality control, and more. These are far from just simple CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) apps.
Loss of Governance
Despite some perceptions to the contrary (“using low-code/no-code can create siloed systems and workarounds”), low-code/no-code actually improves governance.
The use of a centralized platform that complies with IT requirements guarantees visibility. Governance is maintained through features like integrated source control, audit logs, and role-based access control.
Replacement of existing IT Teams
Another common misperception is that IT teams or developers are no longer required once committed to a low-code/no-code approach. This is also where many companies are missing out on achieving even better results using these frameworks.
By automating time-consuming tasks with low-code/no-code platforms, developers can spend their effort on high-value tasks rather than repetitive work. They can work on custom integrations, add features to the application, or build on top of the software. In the context of AI, they can help design AI models, refine business logic, and ensure high data quality.
This allows you to get the most out of your top technical talent instead of wasting their time on rote work. Developers can focus on the 20% of work that drives 80% of the value.
How to get started with Low-Code/No-Code AI
More and more companies are exploring low-code/no-code AI to rapidly capitalize on the benefits that Artificial Intelligence has proven to deliver. If you are looking to leverage these platforms, follow the recommendations below:
Identify Quick-Win Use Cases
Start your AI journey by identifying some quick-win opportunities to demonstrate value. Often, these are lightweight apps to automate repetitive tasks like data collection, report generation, or simple approvals. Quick wins build credibility for low-code/no-code, establish trust across departments, and ensure stakeholder buy-in, which is critical for more complex use cases to build upon.
Platform Evaluation
Evaluate leading low-code/no-code platforms to select the best fit for your technology stack and use case(s). Key capabilities to assess include:
- Drag-and-drop application design
- Pre-built AI connectors and templates
- Integration with your existing systems
- Collaboration features
- DevOps pipelines and governance controls
- Cloud deployment flexibility
- Framework usability
Focus on Business Impact
Identify focused business problems and use cases where AI can drive measurable impact. Quickly validate hypotheses and be ready to discard ideas that do not demonstrate immediate ROI.
Start small and iterate quickly
As you identify promising use cases, start developing a prototype, such as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or Proof of Concept (PoC), to confirm the technical feasibility of your initiative. Collect user feedback, iteratively improve the MVP, and once product-market fit is realized, increase its scope. Avoid waterfall development with a long cycle.
Conclusion
Low-code/no-code application development combined with AI capabilities is a proven way to achieving the benefits of Artificial Intelligence much faster than traditional development approaches. It is an opportunity for companies to cost-effectively scale AI across their processes and workflows.
These frameworks enable companies to quickly seize opportunities and keep pace with competitors. Only weeks of development with the right-fit low-code/no-code platform can deliver powerful applications that otherwise would take months or years. This is a game changer for many companies.
Selecting the right low-code/no-code framework is a critical step for companies to achieve application success. Left to the risk of vendor sales, many organizations fail to recognize the best fit for their tech stack, use case, and business objectives.
ELASTECH is an award-winning agency delivering custom software solutions. We continue to evaluate low-code/no-code platforms to help people remain objective when selecting the framework that will deliver the biggest ROI to their company.
To discuss your opportunities with low-code/no-code and receive an expert evaluation on the right platform for your organization, we invite you to a free consultation. Schedule now by clicking below.
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