In the digital world we live in, software plays a major role. Companies can no longer avoid it to remain competitive. Companies demand efficient and scalable software that perfectly aligns with their processes. Often, existing SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions are used, but they frequently do not fit your company’s needs. That’s why low-code/no-code platforms seem like faster and more affordable solutions. What is often forgotten is that these platforms are heavily limited in what is possible.
That’s why we believe in custom software solutions. Software is not limited, and especially now with AI, anything is possible. Low-code/no-code may seem like an easier solution, but sometimes it becomes too complex for a solution that could be easily coded. We believe more in modular software that can be reused and upon which any functionality can be built. With this, we can align with your business processes or existing systems without being limited.
The limitations of low-code/no-code platforms
To understand the limitations, we must first define what low-code/no-code is. As the name suggests, it has to do with code. Code is the language in which software is written. “Low” means low, and combined with code, it means low-code. With low-code platforms, users can visually create their software in a web application. Sometimes, manual code still needs to be written to make the functionality a bit better.
No-code, on the other hand, is entirely without any code needing to be written. This also happens in a web application where users can visually create their software. Often, this is not really used for applications but more for a sequence of actions. For example: you receive a quote request, and you link the action: send an SMS message.
Limited functionality and scalability
However, when building an application, things quickly go wrong. Often, you need complex functionality that aligns with your business processes, which is not found in existing software. This software is often too large or doesn’t quite do what you want. Low-code/no-code therefore seems like the fastest and cheapest solution, only to spend hours getting something small to work.
Low-code/no-code software is also just software in the background. This software cannot be modified, and therefore, you are stuck with what such a platform offers. This makes it easy to quickly set up small functionalities. But what if you want to connect with an external application? In low-code/no-code, this is quite possible, but it often goes wrong in the way you want to process it in your application. Often, you are stuck with fixed actions and cannot achieve what you want.
As your business grows, the use of the application and the application itself will likely grow as well. With low-code/no-code, this is a nightmare. What if you’ve built a small application that does what you want? But your business has grown, and so must the functionality of the application change because it no longer happens in the way it does now. You want to expand it with low-code/no-code, but you find out that it’s not possible. Now you’re stuck with an application (with all the data) that you can’t do anything with.
Dependent on a third party
Now you might think: but if I have custom software made, isn’t that also the case? It’s different. On such a platform, you create an application with the building blocks they have built. This also runs on their platform. If something goes wrong, you are dependent on that company, which often cannot respond quickly. This company is further away from you (just like a SaaS) because its goal is not to help you personally, but as many people as possible. That’s their entire business model.
In contrast, we are always ready if something goes wrong. We think along from the beginning and help you make the most sensible choices. We know who you are and what your company does. In addition, all software we create is thoroughly tested with automatic and manual tests. Automatic testing is also code, something that is missing from low-code/no-code platforms.
Sometimes there are companies that develop software and then use low-code/no-code platforms themselves so that you don’t have to figure that out. I could list all the problems you’ll get with this, but I think it’s clear. You are dependent on a third party here, which is also dependent on another party.
High costs
Low-code/no-code is not free. You are using a platform, which is essentially a SaaS, and these often require a monthly fee. For small applications, this may not be much, but what if you have more users on it? Often, the monthly fees then increase significantly.
If you start trying it yourself, you also lose your time. It depends on how much your time is worth, but I can imagine that you don’t feel like researching something only to find out that what you want is not possible at all.
Benefits of custom software
Unlike low-code/no-code, custom software is handwritten in a programming language. This gives us complete control over every aspect of the software. This software can be customized as needed and scales with your business.
Integration with Existing Systems
As you can understand, custom software is designed to integrate with your current systems. We translate processes into software that simplifies and accelerates those processes. Sometimes you may use external systems like a billing system, and we can easily integrate with those.
We make this software intuitive, so no unnecessary training should be required to understand it. It’s important that the software perfectly aligns with your current systems and processes. Therefore, we don’t deviate from current norms unless things can be made faster/more efficient.
Scalable and future-proof
Unlike many low-code/no-code solutions, our software solutions are scalable. The software application automatically grows with the growth of your company. From experience, we know that functionality often needs to be modified because it simplifies things, speeds them up, or for other reasons. With custom software, this is a piece of cake, but with low-code/no-code, it is difficult or even impossible.
Growing companies often need new functionality. As I mentioned with low-code/no-code, this is a nightmare for software applications built with low-code/no-code. With custom software, this is also not a problem; an application can be extended with all the functionality needed because that is the strength of custom software. It’s not called custom software for nothing.
Competitive Advantage
As a company, you don’t want to become irrelevant compared to your competitors. Especially in this digital age, it often happens that companies don’t invest enough in their own digitalization. The extent to which software can improve your business is often underestimated. Think about manual tasks, scattered data (multiple software systems), labor-intensive processes, etc. By having custom software developed, you take control into your own hands. This improves your competitive advantage over competitors who don’t take this step.
Because we think along, we often discover opportunities that you haven’t thought of yourself. Often you think that something is not feasible, while with current techniques almost everything is feasible. That’s why it’s also wise to leave this to a party that knows what they’re doing instead of tinkering with low-code/no-code solutions yourself.
How We Build Software
The way we work often differs per software being developed. Some software solutions are more complex than others, and this often requires a different approach. But the overall guideline consists of the following 4 steps.
The Discovery Phase
We cannot immediately start developing your software. First, we need to understand what your goal is with the software. Sometimes you already have a clear idea, but it’s also possible that you’re not entirely sure how to approach it. Together, we’ll think about what a potential solution could be. We’ll process this into a clear scope definition to ensure there is no confusion. The scope includes the functionalities, along with delivery times. This way, you know exactly what to expect and when.
It may be more convenient to postpone certain functionalities, for example, due to a limited budget or because they are not a priority and are nice-to-haves. For these, we’ll write a future plan. This is a small overview of these postponed functionalities and potential expansions. This way, it remains clear for you, and you can make certain decisions more easily.
The Design Phase
Now that we know what needs to happen, it must be visually elaborated. User experience plays a major role here. How do you ensure that the desired functionalities are easy to use? There should also be no confusion when a user is using the application. This is all determined in wireframes. These are sketches to clearly understand where elements will be placed on the screen. Colors, etc. are not considered at this stage.
These wireframes give you an idea of how the application will look/appear. Feedback can always be provided, which we will then immediately incorporate. These wireframes say a lot about the user experience but not about how the application will look. This is done with user interface design. We add colors, fonts, images, and all other details so that you can see exactly what your application will look like.
We reinforce these UI designs by prototyping them. In short, this means that we make the designs clickable. You can click on buttons, change pages, etc. This gives you a real feel for your application. You can also provide feedback here, which we will then immediately incorporate.
Although these designs look super realistic, they are still just designs. They do not have the actual functionality yet. That comes in the development phase.
The Development
In this phase, we will start building the application. This happens in small iterations, where we develop the frontend and backend that together form the application. The backend is where all the data and functionality reside, and the frontend is the visual aspect, based on the approved designs from the previous phase.
Even in this phase, we involve you. Although this phase is more of a realization of the preceding phases, it may still occur that adjustments need to be made. This often has to do with the functionality in the backend. You provide feedback by testing the application in a staging environment. This is an environment where you can test the application to your heart’s content without affecting your actual application data.
In addition to a staging environment, we also run automated tests. These tests ensure that important functionalities are tested. It may occur that when a functionality is changed, a step goes wrong that has been overlooked. Automated tests ensure that this error becomes visible before the application goes online.
The launch
After all functionality has been developed, thoroughly tested, and approved, it’s time for the live launch. In this phase, we put the application online on a domain such as app.domain.com. Your application is now ready for use!
We maintain your application and ensure everything stays up-to-date. We also provide support where needed. But it doesn’t have to stop there. As you use your application, there will be new features that would make your application even better. Some of these features will be described in your future plan, and others will be completely new features. This could be because your company is growing, resulting in different requirements, or because you see new opportunities in the market that you want to take advantage of.
Afterword
Low-code/no-code development has its place, but it’s not a good idea if you want to create a software application. Platforms like framer.com and webflow.com are great low-code/no-code platforms for easily creating websites. But even there, you need quite a bit of knowledge to do it well. However, if you’re going to develop an application with different functionalities, low-code/no-code solutions quickly become complex or even completely unfeasible.
As an entrepreneur, you have limited time and resources. Figuring out or building complex software yourself through low-code/no-code solutions is a waste of time. Developing secure, scalable, and high-quality software requires expertise. You won’t be able to do this in a week, and certainly not with low-code/no-code solutions.
Do you have any questions? Send an email to [email protected] and I’ll be happy to help you further!
Arjen de Vos 
