Low-Code Platforms: Essential Differences Between Low-Code Development and Low-Code Configuration

Low-code application development is aimed at reducing development effort and complexity.

Since its introduction by Forrester around 2014, the "low-code" terminology has been widely in use.

Most often, low-code refers to business application development, the creation of a business application from scratch using as many prebuilt tools and capabilities as possible.

A similar process, low-code configuration, focuses on tailoring the existing core functionality to specific use cases and business needs. While the main goals are the same, minimizing resource and time spent to roll the application out, the practices are different. The tools used for low-code configuration and low-code development are different, and so are the target types of systems, such as Core versus Edge applications.

To establish the terminology, Core Systems are systems that contain all the core data and relationships essential for the business as well as core workflows and processes. They are essentially similar across different companies and businesses operating on the same market, for example communications & media, or supporting a certain function in an organization, for example Customer Information Management for Sales & Customer Success Organizations. They are also referred to as Systems of Record.

Edge Systems are used by businesses primarily to interact with their customers or their partners. As such, they aim to differ across businesses as they drive up the competitive edge. They may also be referred to as Systems of Innovation & Differentiation.

Low-Code Development for Edge Systems

Low-code development is most often recommended for the development of Edge Systems that are outward-focused and mainly provide interactions with customers and partners. Edge Systems are optimized and customized for specific interactions, down to the level of taking advantage of native UI platforms to make them more attractive to end customers.

Low-Code Development implies starting off with a development platform, using these essential components:

• Data Modeling that provides the ability to model and store the data needed to support the intended application
• UI/UX Development that delivers the ability to design and develop a compelling UI/UX experience that supports key user stories and use cases on the platform of choice
• Automation Tools used to model automated activities that cover specific functions or the necessary processes and workflows
• Integration Capabilities that allow custom developed applications to pass data and instructions to external systems and platforms, since stand-alone applications are rare

The core minimum viable functionality for Edge Systems is relatively limited, especially compared with that of Core Systems, and therefore they can benefit from using a low-code development approach in order to achieve the best possible customer experience.

Essential requirements for low-code application development for Edge Systems include user interface and interaction customization, strong integration and application programming interfaces, and the ability to transform data captured across multiple sources.

Low-Code Configuration for Core Systems

Modern Core Systems, such as Business Support Systems (BSS)/Operations Support Systems (OSS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), are built to support repetitive use cases that are common across specific industries. Examples include managing customer accounts, products, support cases, and order fulfillment processes.

Core Systems are usually feature-rich and employ complex logic and integrations, making them expensive to build as purely proprietary applications. Low-code configuration is the preferred approach for setting up and adapting such systems to business-specific requirements.

While low-code configuration also aims at reducing cost and resource spend, it is mainly done as a way to adjust the behavior of an existing, feature-rich application without breaking the application logic or code base. In a way, the set of functions required for low-code application configuration is similar to low-code development. However, the main difference is that there are not only abilities to add new functions, but most importantly the ability to adjust the existing capabilities.

Low-code application configuration components include:

• Data Expansion & Adjustment, for the extension of or changes to existing data models without breaking application functionality, UI/UX, and integrations
• UI/UX Configuration, for the ability to adjust the interface from simple look & feel changes through the presentation of new capabilities
• Automation Adjustments, the ability to both add new automations and adjust existing automations
• Integration Additions, the ability to reuse and adjust existing integrations as well as add new integrations without breaking existing functionality or causing backward compatibility issues

For example, in a typical BSS/OSS configuration, the following activities should always be done via the low-code approach: extending core data entities such as Customer Accounts and the Product Catalog, adjusting the CSR workplace to enable common case management for Sales and Support/Customer Success, and configuration of automated processes and workflows to handle company-specific business processes and the application environment.

Low-Code Platforms Going Forward

Low-code development platforms have proven to be most efficient for developing Edge Systems aimed at enabling unique capabilities, supporting unique use cases, complex non-trivial business processes, and specialized UI.

In turn, development of Core Systems remains highly LOE intensive and costly, and currently there are no alternatives to commercial systems like BSS/OSS, CRM, and ERP that come with further system configuration and customization in order to meet telcos' specific business needs. Yet the ultimate focus remains on simplifying and expediting the adaptation process through low-code configuration.