The Low Code Future

Low-code development platforms seem to be gaining popularity, but are they really all that? As a software agency, we took a deep look at the market to see if it really is all that.

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In recent times, the agency I worked with embarked on an in-depth investigation into the low-code development tools available to see if we were missing out on something that could offer us a competitive advantage in developing bespoke applications for mid-market enterprises. Here’s a summary of our findings.

We particularly focused on two industry leaders as potential candidates: Outsystems and Corteza. At one stage, we even joined Outsystems' ambassador program. I personally invested a significant amount of time learning the Outsystems platform as we considered it for a major application.

While the term "low-code" implies that it enables anyone to create intricate applications, this might be one of the biggest misconceptions about low-code development. Although raw coding and development skills are not always necessary, creating a meaningful application tailored to specific needs still requires a certain level of architectural know-how. Low-code platforms like Outsystems cannot entirely eliminate the need for this expertise, particularly when it comes to database and workflow design.

Additionally, successfully leveraging the efficiencies that these products often requires a deep understanding of the services and tools. Even as an experienced developer, it's not simply a matter of jumping onto the platform and building something efficiently. Customizing anything within the framework demands deep technical skills to manipulate the underlying application code without breaking anything. You are also constrained by the technology employed by the tooling itself.

These tools provide ways to configure and tailor the UI to specific needs. While this is possible, the level of skill and expertise required is significantly high, and the time investment needed to get up to speed with the codebase is a considerable drawback.

One of the major caveats we discovered is that once you commit to using one of these tools, you must be fully dedicated to it. Licensing fees are often outrageously expensive. Although many tools promote the ability to "eject" at will, this is not always the case. Once ejected, the tool is not designed to facilitate customization beyond that point.

We have always considered the frontend as the area where truly unique experiences are built in a custom app, while the server-side and database are where we could gain the most from using these systems. However, this always seemed to be a significant challenge when examined closely.

Having already spent over two years developing a fully customizable low-code application generator for a client (check out [Resolutionary]), we were well aware of the limitations inherent in this approach. But this was not the end of the story. Inspired by our experience and learnings, a co-worker and I embarked on a project driven by curiosity and a desire to create an application that could generate a server-side database and API to our specifications. The goal was to allow us to create unique frontend experiences without waiting for a server-side developer to unblock us.

This is how Kaizen was born. Through curiosity, genuine passion, and determination, we managed to create exactly that within a year, and it is now in production on several applications. The future is still young for Kaizen, but this represents the future we envision for low-code development. Developers will continue to do development but with unprecedented efficiency, achieving outcomes similar to those promised by traditional low-code tools but without the limitations that arise when serving non-developers. Get ready to try it out—we believe it will change the game for you. No licensing fees, no vendor lock-in, and no limitations. Just pure, unadulterated development.