Low-code and No-code platforms have gained immense popularity for providing convenience to IT specialists in software development. The platforms have become more popular because of the application backlogs, shortage of skilled workers, slow turnaround rates, and high costs in software development.
According to a report published by Gartner, the market for low-code/no-code platforms has reached $18.5 billion globally in 2021, increasing 22.6% from 2020. Then it expanded to $22.4 billion in 2022 and now it is expected to grow to a total of $26.9 billion in 2023
One of the newest innovations that has taken the fintech industry by storm is using low-code and no-code payment systems, eliminating the need to write the codes.
With the increased demand for online payment solutions, no-code and low-code development platforms have become more prominent in fintech software development services.
These payment solutions improve the customer experience by increasing relevance and accessibility while making it simple for business users to pay.
Gartner has anticipated that by the end of 2024, low-code/no-code development will represent 65% of all application development, which means that financial institutions are paying attention to adding LC/NC platforms in the FinTech software development life cycle.
In this article, you will learn:
- How low code and no code are revolutionizing software development?
- The benefits of low code / no code in fintech Software development
- The benefits of custom app development in fintech
- In what types of applications low code / no code is better than Custom development
- Which is better for fintech? Custom or low code/no code?
- Low code no code Is it a silent revolution in fintech Software Development?
Table of Contents
How Low Code and No Code Are Revolutionizing Software Development?
According to Grand View Research, the worldwide low-code development platform market is estimated to reach USD 35.2 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 22.9% from 2022 to 2030.
As per a recent Forrester analysis, the global Low Code Development market is predicted to expand from $10.3 billion in 2020 to $45.2 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.2%.
These figures show that Low Code Development is becoming more popular among businesses as they attempt to modernize their technology stacks and adapt to changing customer and market expectations.
The popularity of low-code/no-code has also given rise to citizen developers.
Who are Citizen Developers?
They are non-technical people who can use no-code/low-code development platforms for software development. Citizen developers can be especially helpful for firms that need to build distinctive solutions fast to fulfill specific demands but lack the resources or ability to do so in-house.
Businesses can boost their agility and capacity to adapt to changing demands by allowing citizen developers to build customized apps. This is especially important in businesses that are always changing, especially FinTech.
Even big software development teams can soon become overburdened with demands for new apps or updates to current ones. Low-code solutions enable fintech software developers to build and customize apps quicker, enabling them to be more effective and fulfill deadlines.
Driving Factors Behind Popularity of Low-Code/No-Code Platforms in FinTech Companies
Adopting low-code/no-code productivity tools can substantially impact the development process, namely in the following areas.
Workload and Stress Reduction
Organizations can distribute basic app-building and development activities by employing low-code and no-code applications, freeing up professional developers' time and decreasing their burden and stress.
It will enhance the working experience dramatically and free fintech software developers time to work on more sophisticated, high-quality solutions.
Accelerating Innovation with Low-Code/No-Code Platforms
Low-code/no-code platforms can speed up innovation by allowing developers to easily create proofs-of-concept for more sophisticated software development tasks requiring high-level skills. Ideas and solutions can be evaluated before committing time and money to full-scale fintech mobile apps.
Creating New Roles and Opportunities
No-code platforms focus on optimizing processes and developing solutions and can open up new roles and possibilities inside the organization. Citizen developers who do not have coding skills might seek new career pathways and possibilities to contribute to workflow automation and streamline processes for a company's success.
Applying no-code technologies to digitize paper forms across organizations is one example. Employees with little coding skills may develop mobile apps that accelerate data gathering, enhance data accuracy, and enable quick digital data exchange with just a few clicks.
Giving Developers a More Strategic Role
With tactical development processes carried out within business divisions, developers can dedicate more time to cutting-edge technologies such as mixed reality, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. This might provide them with a more strategic role in the organization and allow them to focus on the next big fintech mobile app development.
Benefits of Low-code / No-code in FinTech Software Development
Low-code/no-code platforms are not a one-size-fits-all solution to all fintech product development. It is important to understand the tool's usefulness like any other tool. What are the objectives of the technology in fintech applications? What is the particular requirement that has to be addressed? What industry are we deploying in? What are the regulatory and systemic challenges we must overcome?
To answer all these questions, here are some of the greatest benefits of low-code/no-code tools in FinTech software development.
Compliance
Laws and regulations shift more rapidly in the financial industry than any other one globally. Therefore, legacy systems and regulations can be a major bottleneck for a financial organization's growth and success.
One of the greatest benefits of using low-code/no-code platforms is that they are already compliant with the newest trends and regulations and timely updated for any such in the future.
Evolving Customer Needs
The requirements of consumers and clients are always changing based on the circumstances of the fintech industry. To meet these requirements, an organization must have access to adaptive and flexible technology. Low-code/no-code platforms help financial organizations to amend and update their digital banking apps to the customers’ needs.
However, a large-scale change is subjective to the availability of platforms needed for fintech development.
Budgetary Constraints
The ongoing changes in fintech regarding technology, compliance, and market volatility require resources. Therefore, financial organizations must be prudent regarding budget allocation and investing in new business ventures.
Low-code/no-code platforms do not cost as much as you may need to hire a full-time development team to implement changes and update FinTech's own apps with the newest regulations and compliance.
Adaptability
As the world changes, so must the technology that enables financial sectors to survive and prosper. With low-code/no-code platforms, a company does not need software professionals to amend or update the fintech app. It can be done by professionals who are in direct contact with customers by simply getting small training sessions.
The financial business is a complicated and fast-paced environment with demands that can often only be satisfied by technology that provides flexibility and efficiency, which outdated systems frequently fail to provide.
Acceleration
Accelerating software development is a top objective for financial services organizations. Faster development enables quicker delivery to the market and clients, distinguishing your organization from the competitors. Furthermore, having access to client feedback allows your company to make changes in real time, which may help you build stronger customer relationships.
Simplicity
Legacy systems continue to be a concern when financial businesses develop and flourish since some have chosen the "don't fix what isn't broken" mentality.
Reducing and overcoming the "legacy technical debt" barrier is one advantage that no-code and low-code technologies may provide the financial industry. The complexity throughout the many areas of financial markets necessitates an urgent need for simplicity.
Low-code and no-code solutions can provide the building blocks required to handle these issues while integrating with current systems. This can save time, human resources, and money because these systems can be continuously improved internally rather than investing in new systems.
Benefits of Custom App Development in FinTech
Learning the benefits of customized software application development can help the fintech development team choose the best option for designing a highly secure and featured-filled application by comparing it against low-code/no-code methods.
Unique Solution that Belongs to Your Business Only
The main reason for custom app designing is that businesses desire solution ownership. Companies can use software functionalities, sensitive data, and creating processes, among other things.
Companies that use customized software can modify any moment, add crucial information, and apply client feedback. Developing an engaged relationship with clients boosts the company's reputation.
Personalized Solution
Every client or consumer wants to feel that their contact with a company is personal. Believing that you're appreciated as an individual is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. When a company offers more personalized solutions, it increases the meaning of the business/customer relationship. This type of additional value increases client loyalty and retention.
Customer Satisfaction
According to McKinney's research, 71% of customers expect companies to provide personalized solutions, and 76% feel disappointed when not. Knowing the importance of a personalized user experience, custom development is critical for customer satisfaction.
Security
Commercial software or platforms are mostly written with open-source code which is highly risky and can easily be hacked by cyber attackers. The weaknesses of such software are already known to hackers, while custom-developed software is a closed-source product only utilized by a dedicated team. As a result, the likelihood of invasions is reduced.
Integration
Integration is an integral part of the software development cycle. If you have a dedicated team of skilled developers, it will be effortless to integrate the software with the company's existing systems. With a low-code application platform, a company will be limited with integration options in their mobile banking apps or software.
Flexibility & Scalability
Businesses can adjust custom applications at any moment to meet the demands of the business. Scalability is one of the features identified as the first thing in the project scope. Off-the-shelf apps, on the contrary, cannot be modified at will. And if you do modify anything, it will most likely break licensing agreements with off-the-shelf software vendors, making it hard to maintain and use the program.
Reliability
Application dependability is critical for all companies. Using a custom option is safer and trustworthy because the company controls all of the rights and can define how it is changed and maintained. Because the finished product reflects on them, custom development teams typically apply the highest quality tools and industry-leading security standards. As a result, businesses can always count on top performance and dependability.
In What Types of Applications Low-Code / No-Code is Better Than Custom Development
The no-code and low-code technology can help develop various applications, websites, or software. Because these no-code/low-code platforms are designed to cater to a mass audience, they might not fulfill the requirements of all fintech companies.
The low-code application platforms are limited to certain features and won’t be much of use for highly complex and secure mobile banking apps. Suppose a company needs a fintech solution with highly secure protocols and complex functionalities integrated with the company's existing systems. In that case, low-code application platforms might not be the right choice.
Digital banking
Low-code and no-code platforms can be used to build simple B2C digital banking apps and software. Due to limited functionalities, low-code and some no-code are alternatives for developing simple software that can meet the requirements of balance check and quick online payments.
Infosys Finacle - a banking software solution that is built with low-code platforms.
E-commerce Apps
E-commerce applications are complex as they demand the completion of every detail, such as location, region, currency, time, media, inventory level, catalog, and monitoring. With the aid of no-code platforms, you can protect payments, monitor inventory levels, and alter the currency and region based on the application location.
Web-based CRM
No-code and Low-code platforms can be used to design web-based simple CRM. These are designed to help businesses connect with their customers, improve, produce sales, and profit consistently.
Acropolium built a self-service portal to help a popular restaurant digitize and adapt to post-COVID-19 reality. Its customers can now browse the menu, add their orders to the cart, pay, and order delivery through a chatbot within a messenger app.
Field Inspection
Businesses can quickly build a field inspection app using no-code platforms. Real estate, municipalities, governments, industries, enterprises, construction workers, and investigators may all profit from this coding program. These apps can be utilized to evaluate the items in the area and make rapid judgments.
Appointment Scheduling
Calendly-like apps can be created using no-code app development platforms. These applications allow businesses to share calendars with other apps, schedule meetings and appointments, integrate payment systems, set reminders, and get vital notifications. Businesses can also integrate these capabilities into another app and customize functionalities to the required needs.
Social Apps
A bank cannot use a low-code or no-code method to invent the next Facebook for their customers, but they can develop simple platforms for building social interaction apps.
Hango is a proximity-based geolocation social interacting app developed with low-code applications. It helps people find events nearby and form groups to discuss them.
Marketplace
No-code platforms such as AppMaster can be employed for building marketplace apps.
These applications are a little more difficult to use since they require a connection with the consumer. Some marketplace applications include DoorDash, Uber, and Airbnb, which collect all your data and deliver packages to the correct location on time.
File Management
These programs, like DropBox, allow users to save, organize, and share data. Financial institutions may access the files from any location. These applications are safe, simple, and can be built without a custom development process.
Which Is Better for FinTech? Custom or Low-Code/No-Code?
According to the BCG analysis, the number of fintech companies doubled in the previous two years. In 2019, there were 12000 fintech startups globally. This figure will likely rise to 26000 by the end of the year.
Professional developers build one-of-a-kind, future-ready, customized solutions to help organizations remain ahead of the competition. Here are eight reasons why custom fintech app development is better than low-code or no-code fintech app development.
Personalization Services
When delivering a company's key message, off-the-shelf software frequently falls short. The ready-made software may contain many unnecessary functions and features as it is developed to cater to many companies' needs rather than focusing on one.
A distinctive trait provides an advantage in today's extremely competitive business environment. As a result, working with an agile fintech developer who understands the company's demands may result in high-quality software that helps businesses achieve their objectives.
Highly Scalable Solution
Scalability, or the ability to grow and adapt to changing needs and expectations, is critical. The software must quickly and easily adjust to the expansion of your company.
Professional developers can assist with customized financial software development to handle future growth or service expansions, such as increased numbers of customers or the requirement for more data storage.
The company can satisfy current and future expectations with custom agile methodology as they start with scalable technology.
Enhanced Security
Financial institutions keep customers' sensitive information, like social security numbers, bank accounts, and credit card details, on file. These data sets must be protected from hackers at all times. Hackers target financial services organizations to steal sensitive data 300 times more often than in any other industry.
Furthermore, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) now has federal law mandating financial services organizations to protect consumer data. As a result, more enterprises will seek FINRA-licensed financial specialists to defend their companies and clients.
Custom fintech software development may help your company's cybersecurity by integrating technologies like Biometrics and artificial intelligence (AI).
High-Performance Applications
The fintech applications that have been developed, keeping the company's and customers' requirements on priority at all steps, are more productive than apps developed using no-code/low-code platforms.
Chatbots powered by AI may reply to client questions at any time of day or night, giving customers an alternative to on-demand professional developers. A more efficient and cost-effective cloud computing operation results from lower infrastructure expenditures.
You will not be required to spend time handling user design, quality assurance, and data privacy problems after the product is ready.
Through Robotic Process Automation (RPA), investment robots may do monotonous tasks like data input and scheduled asset restructuring, allowing your in-house experts to focus on more strategic and specialized operations.
User Convenience
Furthermore, specialized business applications give faster and more trustworthy help when something goes wrong. Customized software development companies may even provide 24-hour help.
Seamless Integration
Customized services are compatible with a company's existing systems. Custom applications with a high level of integration provide real-time visibility, allowing for reliable data management and analysis. As a result, personalized tools can assist businesses in optimizing processes, automating routines, and enabling informed decision-making.
Stay Relevant
Digital transformation has become increasingly crucial as the number of FinTech firms grows. Blockchain, for example, is rapidly gaining traction in smart contracts and transactions. Data analytics serves user preferences better. Because of the increased need for quick financial advice, the number of people resorting to robot advisers is growing.
Branchless banking and cashless transactions are already a reality. As a result, organizations must shift to FinTech to remain competitive.
All of this can not be achieved using on-the-shelf or ready-made software. Designing a fintech application with all the features mentioned above is impossible via low-code/no-code methods. It can only be achieved with custom software development. Custom apps can be built with various features without compromising security and functionality.
Continuous Support & Maintenance
Another explanation for why custom software development makes sense in the fintech industry is ongoing support and maintenance. A dedicated team guarantees that your app is updated and all issues are resolved immediately.
Low Code/No Code - Is It a Silent Revolution in Fintech Application Development?
Low-code/No-code is a revolution in the software & app development industry because it makes development simpler and more rapid. With low-code/no-code platforms, developers can code 20 times faster without reinventing the wheel.
It also opens new possibilities for citizen developers who can create anything they desire with just a drag-and-drop interface.
For example, services like GitHub's CoPilot assist developers by writing 35% of the code. This reduces the developers' time looking for documentation and rewriting boilerplate code, giving them more time to work on new projects.
The no-code tools will allow anyone to develop. Organizations such as the Project Management Institute are giving more formal training programs, which provide educational tools and best practices for development initiatives. These non-tech people learn how to utilize drag-and-drop interfaces to graphically create what they want to create in these classes.
No-code platforms like Lobe.ai enable developers to integrate AI picture categorization into any project with a few clicks - no coding necessary. It used to take a room full of post-doctorate data scientists to assemble an AI model, but today, many AIs come out of the box as a point-and-click experience that anybody can take on.
Due to this democratized access to software creation, many experiences will become feasible for non-developers, and this digital transformation will open up huge prospects for corporate growth. Gartner predicts that "citizen" developers will outnumber developers fourfold in the next few years.
Industry Examples
Roblox is a global network that connects people through play, with over 40 million daily active business users. Instead of employing a large crew, companies may keep a small, agile workforce that uses no code development platforms to substantially magnify their efforts.
Roblox's team in charge of producing and maintaining self-service material leverages Zendesk's no-code AI and workflow tools to automatically respond to the bulk of player support requests, ranging from account security to parental restrictions.
These low-code capabilities enable non-technical employees to significantly influence customers and the fintech software development company can use this digital transformation to a next level of software engineering.
What's Next for FinTech and Low Code/No Code Tools
The FinTech sector is now utilizing minimal and no code technologies for various traditional, reactive support needs such as automation, suggestion, and prediction.
Looking ahead, it is evident that no code is operating well throughout the customer experience, from awareness to consideration to conversion, retention, and advocacy.
Eventually, this implies using low-code/no-code to enhance significant parts of any support activity across all fintech apps.
Summary
The complexities of fintech application development and the challenges of fintech app security can be overcome as long as the organization clearly outlines and defines its goal and is not trapped by a one-size-fits-all solution.
Needs and goals will constantly change and vary, and no-code/low-code development platforms can help if deployed with strategy and the right intent. However, if a company needs a highly secure fintech app with complex features, then custom application development is the right choice.
The choice of development method varies from company to company. Most companies, especially startups, do not need complex and feature-rich apps. They only need to connect with customers and provide them with payment flexibility.
On the other hand, mid-sized and large financial institutions need highly secure and user-oriented fintech solutions that can only be developed with custom software development using agile methodology.
