Getting Started With Low-Code / No-Code and SAP Build

The evolution of coding can be traced back to the 1950s, when the first programming languages were created to communicate instructions to a computer. By the 1980s, software development was becoming an important business competency following rigorous knowledge and practices until the end of the century.

Now, after twenty more years of evolution, the emergence of visual programming tools, application programming interfaces with integrations, and the platform economy have democratized development.

Traditionally, building applications has largely required advanced technical skills, the use of programming languages, and integrated development environments.

Low-code and no-code (LCNC) refer to a new style of visual programming that makes it possible to develop applications without the use of coding languages, which greatly reduces the barrier of entry for anyone looking to take up application development. To differentiate between the two aspects:

• Low-code uses both a traditional programming language-based environment combined with no-code platforms and is used by developers with at least basic technical knowledge.
• No-code is simpler, and it fully replaces the traditional programming language-based tooling with a suite of visual development tools (ex. drag-and-drop components) and can be used by technical and non-technical people alike, such as citizen developers.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the most complex work, the traditional software development where high-level programming knowledge and professional development experience is required to build applications and automations that solve nuanced problems.

Business process automation (BPA) includes technology for workflow management and robotic task automation, that can also leverage underlying machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as SAP Build Process Automation. The combination of these capabilities enables companies to boost both processing speed through automation, and continuous improvements through intelligence.

However, even in highly digitalized and automated companies, many business activities are still disconnected from each other, with silos between lines of business or even within teams. Furthermore, many activities are still managed in a manual way, especially when it comes to the day-to-day processes of an individual employee.

To address that, hyperautomation is major trend that is driving the adoption of low-code / no-code and the growth of citizen developers – it is a strategic approach that aims to realize an end-to-end digital toolchain for processes and activities, across lines of business.

To achieve hyperautomation, an organization must identify, automate, integrate, coordinate and improve as much as possible, using BPA technology with advanced capabilities. And to do that, you need more people involved who can build automations and applications – namely, citizen developers.

Low-code / no-code environments offer a simplified building experience, but behind the scenes they use the same kind of code and tooling as traditional development environments, and are, therefore, capable of delivering equivalent results.

They offer a simpler and more accessible way to build software than platforms that require coding knowledge, but they can be just as powerful as code-first platforms that require skilled professional developers to use.

Applications built with LCNC have no inherent compromises or disadvantages compared to apps built with traditional development environments.

Developers can still "get at the code" behind the low-code / no-code if they need to do so.

When considering code-first versus no-code platforms it all depends on the use case and how complicated it is to build the feature set required for the application, however a state-of-the-art LCNC platform can really go far – so, explore the possibilities!

The advantages of LCNC development are compelling and clear. According to IDC surveys, there will be a 15% shortage of full-time developers by 2025 (The Low-Code Development Imperative, IDC, Nov 2021).

Developer turnover can be reduced by 50% by shifting mundane tasks to low-code / no-code development. And, companies have seen the signs with 60% planning to significantly increase their investment in low-code over the next 18-24 months (Breaking the Code – How Low Code is Changing Development, IDC, May 2022).

First of all, let’s start with the big picture. SAP is the leader in enterprise applications which deliver standardized best-practice processes in finance, supply chain management, human resources, procurement, travel, and more.

What’s more, SAP has a unique track record to integrate data and processes not only across SAP systems, but also non-SAP systems. SAP Build low-code / no-code solutions come with native integration to SAP systems enabling everyone to easily innovate and develop around these applications to meet unique requirements.

SAP Build enables everyone - no matter the skill level - to rapidly create and augment enterprise-grade apps, automate processes and tasks, and design business sites with drag-and-drop simplicity.

SAP Build brings together SAP Build Apps (formerly SAP AppGyver), SAP Build Process Automation (formerly SAP Process Automation), and SAP Build Work Zone (formerly SAP Work Zone) into a unified development experience with new innovations to rapidly build apps, automate processes and create business websites.

With SAP Build, developers can integrate smoothly with SAP and non-SAP applications and leverage hundreds of prebuilt processes, bots and UX components to unify business data and processes

Business users working as citizen developers and IT can collaborate effectively as fusion teams with drag-and-drop simplicity and governance built-in throughout the application development lifecycle.

Business users and experienced developers can collaborate on projects using the development solutions that best fit their respective skills – these are called fusion teams.

Business users can use their domain expertise to create solutions themselves without writing any code. Content and artifacts can be published and shared amongst team members and across projects in an easy and secure way. As citizen developers, they can tackle the long tail of processes and activities and accelerate innovation

Experienced developers can leverage code-first solutions to develop complex logic and make it available for business users to easily import and utilize in their low-code projects.

IT can safeguard operations with centralized lifecycle management, monitoring, and governance. And they use robust DevOps (CI/CD), automated testing, security and performance checks to ship with confidence.

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