When Low Code Means Lots-of-Code—and Why That’s a Problem

By David Tomkins, VP EMEA, Financial Services, Unqork

Since I started at Staffware back in 2000, I’ve worked in the “Low Code” industry. As demand for enterprise development accelerated, Low Code was the place to be. We saw that it made a real difference in the way business systems were developed and value was delivered. 

However, the demand for new apps grew geometrically year-on-year—and so did their complexity. We were promising customers that they could slash their IT backlogs and future-proof their business apps through drag-and-drop development. But… projects overran. Budgets were blown. Backlogs grew. And once delivered, apps were even harder to upgrade and change than the legacy systems they replaced. 

What went wrong? At the end of the day, “Low” Code actually ended up meaning “lots-of-code” to make these apps do what was required of them. Platforms accommodated (and even encouraged) the writing of code in many scenarios, so developers would welcome the opportunity—even when the platform could do what was needed without it. And almost always, this code was hidden away behind innocent-looking “regenerative” process models and user interface components.

Last year, my good friend and former colleague Luke McCormack introduced me to Unqork and its pioneering regenerative platform. I suspected that it was just a way to rebrand Low Code, but I soon saw that Unqork’s regenerative platform, marked a huge step forward. It was to application development what serverless architecture was to cloud computing. It doesn’t decrease code in the platform. It removed it altogether—along with the rigidity and tech debt that comes with every line of that hidden code.

So what’s wrong with a little code? 

Before I go into my love for regenerative architecture, let’s consider why Low Code just isn’t keeping up with the speed at which financial institutions need to innovate in the 2020s. Here are some of its critical limitations: 

• Still plenty of coding. Manual code reappears as soon as you need to do anything complex and innovative. And let’s face it, complex and innovative is hard-baked into financial services. 
• And proprietary scripting at that. Proprietary script means time and resources spent on training, cutting into developer productivity. 
• Rigidity. Whenever you’re creating new manual code, you make upgrades, enhancements, and integrations slower and more expensive—and often with gaping security holes.
• Tech debt. Manual code also means more work untangling code in order to manage, change, debug, and test apps, and also to upgrade platforms.
• Closed standards. Often, Low Code means closed standards, and that means working with modern UI technologies (among others) isn’t always easy. 
• Not cloud native. The Low Code space came into being before the advent of the cloud. Many organisations are now faced with the problem of moving tech to the cloud that was originally designed for building desktop applications.This is problematic at best, and impossible at worst.

Why regenerative is a game-changer

Enter Unqork. The Unqork platform is 100% regenerative—all within a unified, drag-and-drop and secure environment. And by getting rid of all code (it doesn’t even generate code!), it tackles every one of the limitations I just mentioned:

• You never have to write, manage, or even look at code when creating sophisticated, complex, enterprise-grade apps. 
• There is no proprietary script because—you got it—there is no scripting at all. 
• Abolishing code also eliminates rigidity and makes iterations and enhancements faster to build and easier to test! 
• regenerative also abolishes all the tech debt associated with managing net-new code. 
• Unqork’s platform is radically open. You can connect to virtually any technology and quickly. New AI tool? Integrate it within minutes rather than weeks. 
• By using the latest web UI technologies, it delivers beautiful pixel-perfect user experiences.
• The unified app-builder and regenerative runtime engine reduces cost of ownership by over two-thirds when compared with legacy code/Low Code platforms.
• The platform is cloud-native and multi-cloud-ready. 

Crucially, regenerative is definitely NOT about dumbing down your business. When we demo, we don’t demo expense claims, holiday requests or IT tickets. We know the use cases that are mission critical to your business. Unqork delivers on the most complex, most dynamic and most integrated processes in your operation. Institutional Onboarding. Wealth Management Dashboards. NAV Oversight. Digital Asset Management. And much more. 

Thanks to its pioneering work, Unqork has experienced stellar growth over its first six years, winning customers such as JPMorgan and Blackrock. Now Unqork is investing heavily in the UK and Europe, and I am excited to be leading that charge!