Have you ever had a brilliant idea and thought: why hasn’t anyone made an application for that? Thousands of ideas get discarded because people think implementing them is too hard.
Businesses lose efficiency because the employees who know what can solve their problems don’t have the technical knowledge to make an app. And how much can an in-house IT team do after all? In this article, let us look at how to turn such ideas into simple applications with no code.
Problem Definition
The first step is to identify the problem you want to solve clearly. It will help you understand whether there is a need for an application or if there are other solutions.
For example, one simple issue could be that the sales team cannot properly capture their leads and funnel them to the right department. Depending on the organization’s size, one solution could be to install software like Slack and create several channels; each funnel leads to separate departments.
This would be an almost zero-cost solution. But it won’t work if the sales funnel is not a simple two-step process. If multiple departments need updates on each lead, the team might waste too much time just coordinating over Slack.
Building an application might be a cleaner and better approach.
Establishing Key Features
The next step is to list the features you want your application to have. In our earlier example, you might want certain things, such as:
- Ability to add or delete new sales members and other relevant team members
- Pop-up notifications for action on pending leads
- User profiles for which team members can do what
- Messaging capabilities between team members.
- Signup and login pages and more.
Initial Design
Create a simple pen-and-paper diagram of what the application should look like. Think about what features it will have (which you decided above), what kind of user interface it should have, whether it will work on laptops or mobiles, and so on.
Talk to some people who will use the application and incorporate their feedback as much as possible. Don’t worry too much about what the design looks like at this point. What’s important is that you have clarity on what structures and interconnections you need.
Selecting a No Code Tool
Once you have an initial design ready, you need to narrow down a no-code application that would be best suited to make it a reality. Take care of the following things while choosing:
Type of Application You Are Building
Some low-code/no-code tools are specialized for certain business applications such as Sales or CRM. Others are general and can be used to build applications for any domain.
You might also consider low-code applications, which are more powerful but may need a little bit of understanding of coding on your part. Depending on what you want to build and where your technical proficiency lies, try to narrow down a list of No code platforms that might better suit your purpose.
The Reputation of The No Code Vendor
Low-code and No-code platforms have increased in recent years, but not all are equal in capability and quality.
Go through the websites of prospective no-code platform vendors, look at what customers are saying about them, which companies are working with them currently, and so on. It will take just a few quick web searches to eliminate some of your choices.
Capabilities
One of the easiest ways to assess the capability of a no-code platform is to use their free trial (most let you build small, basic applications online).
Go through each vendor and check out how comfortable you are with the user interface they provide and how easy it is to choose various prebuilt components, build connections and deploy the application. You can always request a demo from the company if they do not have a free trial option on their website.
Customization Options
Almost any vendor will do if the application you are building needs just a few basic features and capabilities. However, if you need some advanced features, you should choose a no-code platform that allows for limitless customization options. Again, a quick look at their website should help you understand what customization options they provide for a paid plan.
Online Community
Check how powerful the online community is for the vendor. Do they have forums and chat groups that can help a novice application builder if you get in trouble? How good are their customer and product support if you need help?
Subscription Plans
Most no-code developers will have subscription plans aligned with different team sizes. Depending on how many users you intend to make your application available to, you will have to choose the right plan for yourself.
After considering all the above factors, make a final choice. We suggest you always start by taking a basic plan, and then if you are satisfied, invest in a bigger plan that allows for additional customizations and more users.
Start Building
The next step is to start building your application. Try to build the most basic parts of your pen and paper design and see if they work properly. Use an iterative approach to no code app development – create one small part of the application, see if it works, test it thoroughly and then move to the next.
Take help from the online forums and the no-code developer community on the web to get help if you get stuck at any point. Most importantly, remember to take things one step at a time and not get disheartened if you face failure.
Test & Publish
Once most parts of your application are ready, offer the app to a few trusted users who will also be the final users of the application. Let them try out the features, and suggest modifications, improvements, or gaps in the application. Perfect the application based on the feedback, and you are now ready to publish it for all your users!
Wrap Up
There used to be a time when building apps without code was considered impossible, but with no code platforms, it has become much easier to build and deploy them. These platforms provide easy-to-use drag-and-drop interfaces that let you convert your design to a working app in no time. Moreover, you can build an application ready for mobile and web in one go.
Choose your no-code vendor carefully, and be thorough in your design and testing process. It won’t be long before your first application becomes a reality.