No-code platforms for small businesses. Small businesses can gain tremendous benefits from no-code platforms
These platforms are bringing digital transformational opportunities for small businesses. Particularly for small business owners and their teams that want to stay ahead in today’s application-driven world.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Before now, small businesses depended on IT and software engineers for their digital application needs.
Now, small business team members can become ‘citizen developers’ who create business apps that can help small business growth and development.
This is good news for entrepreneurs and small business owners in developing economies. Especially with the predicted increase in the number of mobile subscribers in developing economies.
With the support of no-code platforms, like AppSheet, citizen developers can create apps across a wide range of devices used in their daily work, from laptops and desktops to tablets and smartphones.
Digital transformation strategy plays a critical role in small business growth. Without this strategy, small businesses will die or remain static – unable to compete in the digital age.
Building custom apps for both internal and external business use is important for entrepreneurial growth.
Here are ten benefits no-code platforms offer small businesses and entrepreneurs.
1. No-code platforms for small businesses
Zero programming
With no-code platforms like AppSheet, business users can now customize apps to meet their operational needs without writing a single line of code. For example, in this post I created a catalogue app using AppSheet.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners often have to do a lot themselves – especially at the initial stage of the business.
This means that business owners and their small teams need a range of knowledge and skills. With no-code, employees can address business needs without having to learn advanced technical skills.
Small businesses with team members with zero programming knowledge can now build custom applications on ‘a dime at the click of the hand’.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Adaptability
A lot of small business processes are done manually. Those that automate business processes tend to spend a lot in terms of time and money, to meet their IT needs.
Now with no-code platforms, small business solutions can evolve and be adaptable.
No-code helps small businesses adapt to continually changing customers needs and expectations, as well as shifts in the market and competition.
With no-code, businesses can make dynamic applications. This means that small business teams can now develop technology strategy that meets real time needs of the business.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Empowerment
Small business team members across a range of departments are empowered to address their technology needs.
These employees have the on-the-job technical knowledge and are aware of the business needs.
No-code platforms such as AppSheet believes that employees are in the best position to build solutions to make the business future-ready.
Employees are also the first people in a company to sense a change that needs to be addressed or fixed.
Therefore, no-code platforms recognize that empowering the front line employees to become citizen developers is the best way to help businesses address business needs and issues.
No-code platforms empower employees in the line of business to play a role in digital transformation.
They can now address their technical needs directly without having to learn advanced technical skills.
With the empowerment no-code platforms offer small businesses, they can reduce operational costs and reserve IT spending for more strategic and technical initiatives.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Acceleration in app time to value
Small businesses that make no-code a key component of their technology ecosystem are able to ensure resiliency and build a future-ready business.
With no-code platforms like AppSheet, there is an acceleration in app time to value.
Traditional app development, from designing to launching an app can take anywhere from weeks to months or even longer.
However, with no-code platforms non-developers can build apps much faster, in just hours or days — while also sparing IT resources.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Easy-to-use features
The no-code platforms offer speedy digital transformation through their easy-to-use features.
The intuitive user interface (UI) resembles standard productivity applications that most people use every day at their jobs and at home.
The UIs of no-code platforms enable faster and more agile app development.
The UIs are either standard drag-and-drop or data-driven. While the former can be fairly complex, the latter makes intelligent suggestions based on the type and format of available data.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Ability to connect multiple data sources
Intelligent no-code development platforms such as AppSheet allows anyone to build apps (desktop, mobile and web applications) by connecting with popular data sources such as Google Drive, DropBox, and Office 365.
In addition, it connects with legacy databases, as well as other cloud-based spreadsheet and database platforms such as Salesforce.
The ability to easily connect custom applications to different legacy systems and cloud-based software helps businesses reduce dependencies on standalone spreadsheets for manually managing accounts.
Also, it allows citizen developers to transform data into actionable insights almost immediately.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Flexibility
With the constant changes in the market and competition, small businesses that wish to stay ahead of the competition need to adapt to dynamic technology.
With no-code platforms citizen developers don’t need to wait to improve their no-code apps.
It is easy to do rapid prototyping, solicit feedback from app end users, and to iterate until they get it right.
Flexibility of no-code platforms means that citizen developers can quickly add capabilities, adjust UI, make feature enhancements and improve functionality.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Automation of business processes
Workflow automation guides small businesses toward being future-ready.
With automation of business processes, small businesses can replace slow, outdated, paper or spreadsheet-based business processes.
In addition, they are able to reduce inefficiencies with secure, custom applications.
With no-code platforms like AppSheet, small businesses can now take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and
machine learning (ML), without making a large investment in money or talent.
The AppSheet’s automation capabilities leverage AI and ML. The technologies to help build automations faster by understanding the intent of citizen developers.
In order to automate a process, you simply need to describe the processes in plain language while AppSheet’s automation will provide contextual suggestions as you’re typing.
Therefore, with no-code platforms business processes can be more powerful and relevant because it is driven by the impacted end users themselves.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Security
Security is built-in with no-code development. For example, AppSheet has built-in safeguards, and security and governance are streamlined.
While citizens developers are empowered to develop app and automate workflows, IT teams can have administrative control.
That is, maintain control over the platform and the apps developed.
This ensures that IT can secure and protect company data by maintaining visibility and control over the organization’s entire app ecosystem across business sites.
No-code platforms for small businesses
Resources
Significant technological investments are required in traditional development. Similarly, low-code development requires complex technical skills.
With no-code platforms, limited, if any, resources from IT is required. That frees IT to focus on more strategic and technically demanding work.
In addition to limited technological resources, financial investments are also lower considering that small businesses can now leverage the capabilities of AI and ML.
Conclusion
No-code platforms have tremendous potential to help small businesses grow in this digital age.
Employees can now develop apps and automate business processes in minutes or days.
No-code platforms such as AppSheet offers benefits such as no-programming, adaptability to business processes and empowering employees as citizen developers.
In addition, small businesses benefit from acceleration in app time to value. The features are also easy to use and data can be connected from multiple sources.
The flexibility of no-code platforms means that apps can quickly be built and capabilities can be added and functionalities improved.
Finally, no-code platforms like AppSheet help make small businesses future-ready through automation with built-in security and safeguards using limited resources.