If you’re in the business of making work simpler, more effective, and easier, then you’ve probably come across the terms low-code, no-code, and automation as you’ve been browsing the internet.
At Original Software, we’re fans of clarity and simplicity. So, in this blog, we’re going to explain what each of those terms means, what you can do with them, and what might be right for your project.
Table of contents
What is automation?
In business terms, automation refers to any job that’s done by software instead of a human. It also applies to hardware (think car assembly lines), but most of us are more interested in the software side of things.
A calculator is a very simple form of automation – it automates the job of doing calculations. Generally speaking, automation is supposed to free up humans to do more value-adding activities, or enable a business to get the same amount of work done with fewer people.
As people’s jobs have grown more complex, automation has striven to match pace. And as AI has grown in popularity and effectiveness in recent years, so too have the tools available to organizations. These days, automation tools purport to tackle a huge variety of things, including:
- Process-based tasks such as processing mortgages.
- Workforce planning
- Software testing
- Application modernization
Of course, in order to reap the benefits of automation, your organization has to invest in an automation tool (whether buying one or building your own) and configure it to meet the needs of the business. Traditionally, that has taken a lot of software development expertise and time. And that’s where low-code and no-code automation come into the picture.
What is low-code?
Low-code is a method of building software that involves minimal coding. Most of the work is done through a visual interface that essentially allows you to piece together your application. Low-code tools also allow you to add in extra code if needed – usually for complicated or specialist functionality, or for things that the regular editor can’t handle.
Obviously, low-code tools make building software much easier because you can get by with very little coding knowledge. It can also be faster than building software using code, since you’re using a drag-and-drop interface instead of typing lines of code.
However, you do still need some coding knowledge to get the most out of a low-code tool. If your software is likely to require lots of customization, or you find that your chosen tool has limited capabilities, then a user with no coding knowledge will struggle to make something that’s fit for purpose.
What is no-code?
You can probably guess this one. It’s just like low-code – but there’s no need to add in custom code.
This means that a no-code tool is the best option if your skillset is limited. Everything can be done through whatever interface your particular tool uses – most likely some sort of visual flow that breaks down the different functions of your application.
As you read that, you might be wondering whether which is better – no-code or low-code? The answer is a little more nuanced than that – but we’ll come to that in a moment.
What process can you automate with low/no-code tools?
We listed a few examples above, but the truth is that low-code and no-code tools exist to help you automate just about any process that exists.
A particularly popular example at the moment is processes that use data from multiple systems. Where previously a human would have pulled data from each of those systems and used it to complete a task such as generating a schedule of work for a team, process automation can pull the data and analyze it without the need for human intervention.
An older, yet still relevant, example is where software is used to move a job through a system. Think about the mortgage example above – a customer submits an application, and nowadays many of the checks and calculations are done by software instead of an individual. Process automation like this is now so well-embedded that the decision whether to accept or reject a mortgage application is usually completely automated too.
A final example that’s gained a lot of traction in the last decade is the automation of investigative processes – like software testing. Regression testing in particular has been a popular process to automate. It involves comparing a new version of an application against an old one to identify any changes and validate that the software can still be used for its intended purpose. While traditionally the creation of test automation scripts has required lots of coding knowledge, no-code and low-code tools are offering test managers a much faster way to build and maintain their libraries, so they can deliver better-quality testing faster, without needing code skills.
But to return to the question above: should you go for low-code vs no-code?
Benefits of low-code vs no-code
On the face of it, no-code solutions are better for users with no coding skills who are happy to sacrifice the flexibility of being able to add custom code like you can in low-code tools. The truth, however, is more nuanced.
The key point is how many functions any given tool can offer a user in a code-free environment. For instance, a high-end no-code tool may be able to handle functions that low-code tools could only replicate by the user adding custom code. A lower-quality no-code tool, on the other hand, might be more restrictive in what it can do. In the realm of software testing, the Original Software Platform contains powerful tools for test automation that are more powerful than low-code and fully coded alternatives.
The only way to know for sure is to carefully evaluate tools that exist for your specific purpose.
Happy automation
We hope this blog has helped you clarify your thinking about no-code automation and low-code automation. If you’re in the software testing space and looking for help with your test automation, we’d love to have a chat. Just click below to get in touch.
