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Community Blog The Value of Low-Code Platforms for Omnichannel Retail Businesses

The Value of Low-Code Platforms for Omnichannel Retail Businesses

We'll discuss why low-code platforms are a type of data mid-end solution, and share how our Omnichannel Data Mid-End solution helps retailers formulate better strategies.

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Low-code platforms can accelerate your application development lifecycle, helping you meet the needs of your retail customers and business, fast. But such platforms are the tip of the iceberg and we explain how a Data Mid-End Solution can help retailers digitally transform in our whitepaper. Download for Free!.

Data and retail are now intrinsically linked. Retailers are expected to use this data to monitor consumer habits and market demands, reacting to such changes with the speed required to remain competitive in today's increasingly competitive retail world.

This situation is placing substantial demands on the retailer's IT departments at a time when many retailers are accelerating their digital transformation efforts.

From to AI, blockchain, the IoT and many other technologies, a recent survey from IBM reveals the breadth of technologies now required to streamline today's hybrid shopping experiences and make sustainable shopping much easier for their customers.

But many retailers do not have the in-house resources to react and promptly develop, monitor and maintain such high-tech applications.

This is where a practice called low-code development can help. It is now easing the burden for many developers, helping retailers meet this increased need for custom software, providing a fast path to high profits, loyal customers and seamless digitization.

What Is Low-Code?

Low-code platforms simplify application development, allowing developers and non-developers to use a drag-and-drop interface to build new applications using the features and functionality of existing applications.

There are many ways in which low-code platforms can help retailers, making it incredibly simple to connect different areas of your business and the customer journey. The benefits of low-code platforms include:

Benefit #1: Speedy Development

The primary advantage of low-code platforms is significantly accelerated application development.

In other words, low-code provides retailers with a platform to build applications faster, giving them the agility to stay ahead of the competition. This unlocks further agility across their business. By rapidly developing and deploying applications, retailers can understand how customers are shopping and then respond to these changing shopping habits, fast.

Because retailers don't need to rely on expert developers, citizen developers can create these applications. Citizen developers are staff who create applications using tools that are not actively forbidden by IT or other business unit. They report to a business unit or function other than IT.

This reduces the pressure on IT departments. Instead, non-technical staff can work through a retailer's project backlog, freeing up technical staff to work on specialized projects where they are using their skills to add real value to the organization.

Benefit #2: State-of-the-Art Applications

Low-code platforms vastly reduce the steep learning curves and cost restrictions often associated with embracing these emerging technologies.

Retailers can incorporate capabilities in fields that may require highly-specialized knowledge. For example, product recommendation engines and chatbots, IoT solutions for supply chain visibility or AI-enabled technologies are now just a few clicks away.

App developers can also implement such solutions into existing applications by tapping into existing modules and APIs while also using their own custom code to produce the personalized and customized user experiences that now customers now expect.

Benefit #3: Code Consistency and Security

Low-code offers tremendous code reusability. Developers can reuse templates or components from other projects without continually writing the same code again and again.

What's more, low-code platforms are a low-risk option. They come with robust security processes, cross-platform support and data integration, providing consistency across the application development environment.

Benefit #4: Data Integration

Low-code platforms are highly customizable and scalable, allowing staff to integrate any new applications with existing enterprise software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, custom applications and databases.

So, retailers can draw insights from data across their business to implement valuable marketing analysis. Using the features of Quick BI, for example, this solution also allows retailers to quickly build data portals to meet their business' needs.

Introducing Data Mid-Ends

Low-code platforms are one example of a data mid-end solution. The data mid-end methodology is essentially a collection of services that are meant to help companies quickly implement, develop, apply and manage their data-based applications and assets.

Our Omnichannel Data Mid-End, for example, helps retailers formulate brand strategies, monitor their operations and increase their customer base using an assortment of ready-made models.

In our whitepaper, we explain how a Data Mid-End Solution can help retailers digitally transform, allowing you to not only develop your applications with ease but also unlock a range of new, data-driven business models. Download the Whitepaper >>

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