On September 30, Gartner, a world-renowned research institution, updated and released the critical capability report "Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms" for enterprise-level low-code development platforms. Compared with the report of the same period last year, "API and Integration" and " "Platform Ecosystem" appeared in the report for the first time.
The Critical Capability Report is a technical evaluation guide produced by Gartner based on in-depth industry research. It aims to help decision makers establish criteria for evaluating the technology and complete the technology selection for specific use cases. In the low-code field, Gartner has released the "Enterprise-level Low-code Development Platform Key Capability Report" for two consecutive years starting in 2019. In this year's report, Gartner listed a total of 11 key capabilities. The following is my interpretation for the reference of low-code developers.
1. Intuitive, No-Code App Development
Ease of use, a function that can be completed without writing code. This is a key indicator of the productivity of low-code development platforms, and it is also the original intention of developers to choose to use low-code.
2. Application User Experience
The user experience of applications built using low-code development platforms. This indicator can greatly affect the satisfaction of end users with developers. Generally speaking, when an independent software development team delivers projects for enterprise customers, the requirements for this ability will be significantly higher than those for independent development by enterprise customers; projects open to enterprise customers or suppliers have higher requirements for this ability For items that are only used by internal users of the enterprise.
3. Data Model and Management
Data modeling and management capabilities. This indicator is usually referred to as "model-driven". Compared with form-driven, model-driven can provide data model design and management capabilities that meet the database design paradigm. The higher the complexity and scale of the project, the more critical this capability is.
4. Process and Business Logic
Process application and business logic development capability and efficiency. This capability is divided into two layers: the first layer refers to whether complex workflow and business processing logic can be developed using low-code tools; the second layer focuses on the convenience and ease of use of low-code tools when developing these functions . Generally speaking, the first layer determines whether the enterprise application project can be successfully delivered, while the second layer affects the development cost of the project. In any case, users should pay attention to the first layer. On this basis, if the project focuses on workflow, the second layer should also be used as an important evaluation indicator.
5. Platform Ecosystem
The ecosystem of the development platform. The essence of a low-code development platform is a development tool, and the built-in out-of-the-box functions cannot cover more application scenarios. At this time, a complete ecosystem based on the platform is needed to provide a deeper and more comprehensive development empowerment. Many development platforms are establishing their own plug-in mechanism, which is a typical embodiment of platform ecology.
6. API and Integration
Programming interface and system integration capabilities. In order to avoid the phenomenon of "data islands", enterprise-level applications usually need to be integrated with other systems for synergy. At this time, built-in integration capabilities and programming interfaces become critical. Unless it is confirmed that the project does not involve system integration and expansion development in the foreseeable future, developers should pay attention to this ability.
It is worth mentioning that in another authoritative industry organization, Forrester’s "2019 Q1 Forrester Wave: Low-Code Development Platform for Application Development and Delivery Professionals" report, the programming interface was recognized as an enterprise-level low-code development platform. An important sign, "low code" without a programming interface is classified as "no code" and transferred to those platform reports that only apply to limited use cases.
7. Architecture
Does the system support more advanced architecture and clear layering to connect with new technologies such as IoT, RPA robots, and ML machine learning? If developers want to have a longer life cycle for the applications they develop, it becomes particularly important to have a deep understanding of the architecture of low-code development platform products.
8. Quality of Service
service quality. Similar to the previous point, service quality is also a measure of low-code development platforms running in the public cloud model. The quality of service here, in addition to the usual "time of trouble-free usage", also considers whether the resource supports the exclusive mode, to avoid the high load of a certain application, causing other applications to be unavailable or performance degradation.
9. Persona and SDLC
User model and software development cycle support. In the life cycle of software development, in addition to development and delivery, it also needs to include design, feedback, testing, operation and maintenance and other links. For example, the early user model establishment and verification process of system development usually requires rapid mockup, iteration, and investment in development. The power is not even less than the formal development. If a set of low-code development tools have the functions required for the full life cycle, it will greatly simplify the developer's technology stack and further improve development efficiency. The larger the scale of the system developed by the developer, the more important this ability is.
10. Governance
Development management. The project scale of enterprise-level software is usually larger and the business is more critical, which places higher requirements on the management of the development team. Whether the agile development, which is the main push in modern software development, can be implemented in low code is an important indicator to measure development management capabilities. This usually includes a series of functions such as code base rights management, version rights management, release rights management, etc., helping the development team leader to reduce various human risks brought by the software development management process. The larger the development team, the more recommended developers pay attention to this indicator.
11. Security and Compliance
Security and compliance. The low-code development platform needs to work hard on deployment methods, system security mechanisms, and authority management and control functions to fully empower developers to build secure enterprise-level applications that comply with corporate rules. Support for local deployment, full SSL data transmission, password strength policies, cross-domain access control, and high-granularity user authority control are all concrete manifestations of this capability. Large companies and companies in specific industries (such as military industry, finance, etc.) usually pay more attention to this indicator.
Compared to the list of key capabilities in 2019, Gartner will add "platform ecology" and "programming extensions" to the key technical capabilities of enterprise-level low-code development platforms in 2020, and will include "development management" and "security compliance". Other indicators have been further highlighted and strengthened.
Facing this list, do developers have a more objective and comprehensive idea when evaluating various low-code development platform products?