Low Code Platforms

Faster Delivery with Lower Risk and Greater Functionality

High-productivity platforms with a Low Code approach help IT teams get project delivered. And now that they support everything from innovative customer applications to re-platforming legacy systems. Utilising a combination of Dynamics 365, Power Platform, OneReach.ai, Azure, SQL Server and Office 365 we create rapidly deployed, low risk solutions for your business. Using our expertise in bespoke software and system integration we can extend our Low Code solutions to meet even the most demanding requirements.

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What Are Low Code Platforms?

Applications built using Low Code Platforms are largely built using visual design tools to assemble data capture forms, process flows, business rules, reports etc using drag and drop based visual designers. Typically, little bespoke software is required and applications can be built very rapidly with a high degree of functionality provided out of the box such as auditing and security, identity management, search, dashboards, self-service reporting etc. All platforms have limits to their Low Code capabilities but all the platforms that we work with can be extended using bespoke software (our heritage of nearly 20 years) to provide functionality that is required and not present in the platform. That is a condition of us selecting the platform for delivery by TEKenable.

The 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Low Code Platforms is shown opposite and shows Microsoft as a Leader and Visionary in the space.

Microsoft Dynamics brings the best of Microsoft technology together

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is suite of intelligent cloud business apps, combining CRM & ERP solutions in a cloud based service, ensuring business critical applications are fully integrated.

Integrating applications into one unified platform helps provide a single view with real time insights that are actionable, reduce data duplication & ease data migration,enhancing overall productivity and profitability.

Click to see How We Use Dynamics

Click to see How We Use Power Platform

Power Platform - Application Analytics, Apps, Data Exchange and more

Power Platform is a collection of Microsoft tools and services that enable the rapid delivery of cloud based enterprise applications and includes tools for Data Analytics (Power BI), Desktop and Mobile application development (Power Apps), connecting disparate systems together as part of a unified business process (Power Automate), AI based natural language capabilities (Power Agent) and the Common Data Service that is the key to building really integrated applications spanning Microsoft product families and non-Microsoft applications.

OneReach.ai - Create Intelligent Digital Workers

TEKenable can build bots based on bespoke software or platforms. Generally bespoke is more cost effective if only one simple Bot is envisaged whereas economies of scale are available from a platform when multiple or complex bots are planned, especially if they need to use voice.

We use the OneReach.ai platform which meets our criteria for a Low Code platform by having best in class functionality and being extensible using bespoke software.

OneReach.ai has been named by Gartner as Top Conversational AI Platform in2018 and 2019 and TEKenable are OneReach partners. A good summary of its capabilities is in the image to the right.

Click to See How We Use OneReach.ai

Comparison

Low Code Platforms v Bespoke

Point of Comparison	Low Code Platform	Bespoke Code
Speed of Development	Quicker	Slower
Functionality Delivered	Out of the box features such as Search, Dashboards, Charts etc plus Application specific functions	Application specific functions only
Risk of Errors/Extent of Testing Required	Lower risk of errors, business functional testing	Higher risk of errors, business and technical testing required
Training Needs	More complex platform needs a bit more training to get the most from it	Business functionality training only
Self-Service	You will be able to make minor adjustments yourselves (add new fields to a form, report, add validation rule, change form layout etc)	None. All changes must be via IT provider only
Cost to Develop	Similar but more functionality delivered out of the box	Similar
Cost to Maintain	Lower as some changes are self-service capable and low code nature make changes quicker and lower risk	Higher as more IT labour intensive to make the change
Licensing Costs	Essentially per user per month, as low as €10 per user for single app	None for the .NET
Hosting Costs	None, included in license costs as are database fees	Azure hosting costs plus database costs
Vendor Lock-in	Low vendor lock-in high platform lock-in. . Building on a Low Code platform is a strategic decision as moving away from the platform afterwards would entail a rebuilt of the application(s) but it is not a vendor lock-in as there are many competent vendors with the necessary skill sets in the market place if you need to switch vendor.	Medium vendor lock-in high platform lock-in. Cost to switch vendors is medium as it can be hard to reverse engineer another company’s application even with documentation. Switching platform from .NET would be a high cost but unlikely to be needed as plenty of suitably skilled vendors exist to provide .NET skillset.