The growth of digital integration both in working and personal environment has been pushed a lot by the COVID-19 pandemic and has contributed to the emergence of a new type of business approach, the so-called “citizen-development”. This process encourages non-IT-trained employees to become software developers by using Low-code or No-code development platforms.

 

Banks, just like many other businesses, can get the most out of these new technology solutions to meet the needs of their clients, improve their home banking service, implement new services and, therefore, gain more competitive advantage.

What are Low-code and No-code platforms?

Because they require little to no coding to create softwares, using Low-code and No-code platforms is easy even for those who lack knowledge of coding. Their strong point is being provided with user-friendly interfaces, which can replace standard computer programming and traditional coding.

The word “Low-code” (LCAP) was coined by Forrester in 2014 in “New development platforms emerge For Customer-Facing Applications”. As stated earlier, low-code development platforms require little code writing, that means little handwork. The greatest benefit of using these platforms is the possibility to program softwares with easily understandable pre-set scripts.

“No-code” development platforms allow anyone to create softwares, websites or apps without needing any programming skills. Thanks to the use of GUI (graphical user interface), manual programming can be replaced by the “drag&drop” visual method. Unlike Low-code, No-code requires no coding at all, so it is within everyone’s reach.

Why should banks adopt these new digital strategies?

The banking sector is one of the most competitive markets, as anticipating trends and embracing new technologies are fundamental to gain more competitive advantage and attract more customers.

The appearance of mobile banking in 2010 has changed the banking industry by influencing the concept of bank, just as personal property management, monetary approach and consumer behaviour. The benefits of going Low-code and No-code are numerous and include the opportunity to create, manage and improve business platforms designed for clients. In addition, delocalisation allows computer programming to be carried out inside the business and, therefore, highly facilitates cost reduction. And lastly, higher employee engagement is an important advantage that should be considered. This would give the chance to take full advantage of the skills of every employee, regardless of their formation. IT training would not be necessary anymore and recruiters could focus more on the personal skills of the employees, rather than their formation. According to research carried out by Omnia 70% of low code users who lacked knowledge of these new methods managed to acquire them in less than a month, while 30% did it in less than two weeks.

Now more than ever, following market trends is essential for a company in order to stand out from other competitors. According to Gartner, COVID-19 pandemic will continue to boost the investments in Low-code and No-code. Research has confirmed that LCAP (low-code application platforms) development technologies has reached ”$13.8 billion” in 2021. And it was also revealed that LCNC technologies development is bound to keep growing and account for 65% of the application development market in 2024.

Vittoria Ippolito