A wave of no- and low-code tools has transformed retail. Tools like Shopify, Wix, and Square have abstracted away complexity and enabled small businesses to manage operations, handle transactions, and put up storefronts without having to write a single line of code. These tools and the generation they spawned are meeting this moment and they may just be the key to our financial and economic recovery.
From an organizational perspective, layoffs across all sectors are causing teams to streamline, and the need for tools that allow them to be more capital efficient has never been greater. A new way of working - remote, from wherever you happen to be - centers the role of collaboration within companies on the cusp of radical change. Putting building power in the hands of every section of an org - from human resources to marketing to customer support - will become a vital component of moving forward.
At the same time, we’re experiencing record-high unemployment - that’s millions of people who can be empowered to start businesses of their own. It’s possible this recession will produce an unprecedented number of entrepreneurs who are looking to move their ideas online by harnessing the power and reach of the internet. There is a huge opportunity for no- and low-code technologies to enable individuals to offer services, ship products, and operate their own freelance businesses.
One of the best minds in the no- and low-code world is Brian Luerssen, Co-founder and CEO of Draftbit. Operating in the “messy middle” between developers and non-developers, Brian’s team has a front-row seat to the role these tools have played on multidisciplinary teams - and the role they might have in our recovery. We sat down with Brian to learn more about how no- and low-code tools have evolved and where these technologies are headed.
Q. We saw early potential in the no- and low-code space, but we’re just now starting to see these terms in a broader conversation about what’s next in technology. What do you think about the recent explosion in interest around these technologies?
A. The no-code and low-code world is exploding because there’s a new generation of builders coming online that have grown up using software and now want to build it themselves, and they have the base level of knowledge to do so. They've been building stuff for a while - websites, blogs, Shopify stores. Now they want to build their own applications. According to recent research, by 2023 there will be something like 900 million global information workers in the world that use software and technology every day, but only about 30 million developers. That leaves more than 800 million people who use software but can’t create it. This scenario looks a lot like a time when only developers could create websites, but now millions of websites are created by non-developers. We believe the creation of applications will follow this same trajectory.
Q. Low-code tools are certainly on the rise, but they aren’t entirely new. What’s been the role of these types of tools historically?
A. Traditionally, low-code technology was primarily used by enterprises that wanted to wrap guard rails around what their engineers could do. For example, you might sell an old-school low-code system to the CTO of a state or local government because he tends to hire more junior engineers that turn over quickly. He’s going to find use in a structured system that ensures things keep working even after the team that built them moves on. Outside of that use case, these tools became access points for people learning technology but they frankly weren’t easy to use nor did they allow for a lot of sophistication. So while they produced code, the quality of that code wasn’t something a professional developer would really touch - defeating the purpose in some ways.
Q. Beyond developer-heavy startups, what are the specific use cases you’re seeing in the enterprise world?
A. Small businesses and startups are building their MVPs, gathering customer feedback, and doing their own hypothesis testing. They’re using no-code tools to solve everyday problems like workforce management, sales enablement, customer service, and online ordering. Restaurants are automating a lot of processes that used to be manual - building their own simple online ordering apps and developing tools to keep track of inventory. Startups are using no-code platforms to iterate faster, allowing them to build more with fewer resources. Meanwhile, agencies and dev shops are using no-code platforms both for their customers but also during the design and development phase when working with customers to spec new projects. They use tools like Draftbit to build production code much, much faster - resulting in massive ROI and margin enhancement. Further, they like being able to drop the "build a fake prototype" tools like Invision and Marvel, and just get started building the real thing.
Q. Leaner, scrappier businesses can be less wary of adopting new technology. Do you see larger enterprises getting on board with these tools yet?
A. Absolutely. Larger enterprises of all kinds - even Fortune 1000 companies - are using no- and low-code technology in their innovation groups to test new products and new consumer segments. No- and low-code products have found a home in their internal tools and enterprise technology departments as they experiment with workplace productivity solutions. For example, Walmart has over 25 apps, each dedicated to a specific employee role (warehouse manager, store manager, stock clerk, etc) with the objective of making the team members filling that role better, smarter, and faster at their jobs. Instead of buying multiple enterprise SaaS solutions, many companies are choosing to roll out their own with a small team - customizing to their use cases for a fraction of the cost. We see large companies using Draftbit to build everything from small team dashboards to employee training tools.
Q. Do you see these tools playing a role at the consumer level?
A. This is potentially the most exciting category - enabling people to build applications just for themselves, their families, their friend groups, and their communities. This is truly the long tail of software applications. There are thousands of potential applications where it will never make sense for a business to operate in the niche, but where people need tools to have more fun, to make memories, to communicate faster and more efficiently, and to spend more time together (even remotely).
Q. How does Draftbit’s approach differ from other no-code platforms?
A. Many no-code platforms eschew the need for developers ever again. What makes Draftbit different is that we live in the messy middle between developers and non-developers. We're a no-code platform, but we also allow you to view and export the underlying source code. So it works for the multidisciplinary teams building real products: freelancers, agencies, entrepreneurs, startups, and enterprise builders. Without the underlying source code, you eventually reach the limits of the platform you’re building on. That means starting over somewhere else (or worse, going back to the old way of building without visual tools). Rather than no- and low-code, we think of Draftbit as a visual development tool for makers of all kinds.
Q. Ultimately, what type of impact do you hope Draftbit will have on the way teams work?
A. We envision a future of true collaboration between teams building applications: both technical and non-technical actually doing work side by side, instead of everyone non-technical just queuing up work for the technical folks. We’re building to the (ever increasing) sophistication of the builders out there. My wish is that all of these tools create more independence, more new businesses, and more economic freedom.
Q. Where else might we see opportunity for these types of tools going forward?
A. I think we’ll see a lot of traction around individual usage - creatives and content producers are already starting to create apps for their followers, their podcasts, their YouTube channels. They use no- and low-code tools to build software that lets them own, monetize, and engage their user base in ways they couldn’t before. There is a lot of untapped potential there. I think the future for tools like these really boils down into a version of freedom. To solve your own problems, to form your own communities and platforms, and to build what makes you happy. Think back to before we had website builders like Wordpress, Wix, and Blogger. Now think through all of the amazing websites, blogs, portfolios, and businesses that have been enabled by them. The same thing will be true with applications.