5 mins

June 10, 2022

By Mark Davis

Create your own websites and apps. No coding necessary.

5 mins

June 10, 2022

By Mark Davis

What is ‘No-Code’? How No-Code is helping businesses Our selection of No-Code tools Key learnings

If you’re starting or growing a business, you may well need to create a website. You know that, but the time and money you’ll need to invest is holding you back. If you know nothing about coding, you’ll have to pay someone who does, right? Well, no.

Nowadays, many digital tools are available to everyone, even those who thought Python was a snake, Java was an exotic island and C# was a spelling mistake. You can build that website, launch that mobile app or automate that boring task all by yourself, without breaking your budget to pay an IT ninja to do it for you.

Out there in the digital universe exists the new world of No-Code. To help us navigate it, we’ve picked the brains of two experts: the entrepreneur and YouTuber Shubham Sharma, and Qonto Product Manager Maxime Champoux. They told us how you can boost your digital presence without having to learn the language of computer programming.

What is ‘No-Code’?

If early No-Code features and applications were reserved for qualified computer programmers, it didn’t take too long for entrepreneurs to spot the opportunities and adapt them to their business needs.

“A No-Code tool allows you to develop an app, automate manual tasks like recording invoices or create a website with its own integrated messaging platform, all without having to write a single line of code. No-Code tools are democratizing tech, to give access to all.”

Shubham Sharma

“The term ‘No-Code’ refers to platforms that let anyone, with no previous IT training, to build a perfectly functional product from scratch that they can then put on the market themselves.”

Maxime Champoux

At the end of this article you’ll find our selection of No-Code tools that are fit for different purposes. First, though, let’s explore the various benefits these types of solutions offer.

How No-Code is helping businesses

Creating a website

Let’s imagine you own a catering company. You want a simple, one-page website that contains all the information people need to be able to book your services for an event. You just don’t know the first thing about computer code. You know a few freelance programmers but they’re used to working on much bigger projects and command a hefty fee, especially if you wish to add features to your site like a contact form or messaging service for your customers.

“With No-Code tools, you have the chance to create a static site that will be enough for your business. If you provide a more thorough range of goods and services, you can even create more sophisticated sites with several pages and integrated instant messaging with which you can chat to customers in real time. You can find all that in one single package for a price that remains affordable.”

Shubham Sharma

Automating manual tasks

If you’ve ever been an intern in a big company, you may be all too familiar with those very menial yet very important admin tasks. Like sending and filing invoices, then passing them onto the accountant. Or saving long lists of documents into the relevant drive files. Or sending emails to acknowledge receipt of a client’s request, followed by confirmation emails once the requests are satisfied.

With No-Code tools, this multitude of small but time-consuming tasks can be automated. This eliminates manual input and its inherent human errors. It means that time can be spent on something more interesting, like social networking or forward planning. Which is good news for interns.

For Shubham Sharma, it gives everyone access to the benefits of coding without having to do the actual coding itself.

Launching an app

It’s much faster with No-Code to create the latest app for food-delivery, ride-sharing, dating, appointments with the doctor or whatever else your great new idea may be. You can connect the tools you like to use to a variety of interfaces like Google Suite to produce websites and mobile applications.

The bonus is that you are also guided step by step through the process, from the moment you sign up to the moment you launch and even beyond, once you’re up and running.

Testing products quickly

Another way in which businesses are using No-Code is in the quick and efficient testing of a product that’s just gone or is about to go to market. Rapid testing means you can also modify the product without delay once you’ve collected the user feedback.

“The objective according to Jean-Rémi Gratadour, Executive Director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center at HEC Paris, is to increase the chances of success while minimizing cost and risk.

This is a significant asset when you think of the number of trials a company has to go through to end up with a product that corresponds to customers’ expectations.”

Maxime Champoux

A boost to finances

Building your business’ digital infrastructure with a No-Code tool does often involve signing up to a relatively long-term subscription. It also means sharing your data with the provider of the tool. This can prove an obstacle for some entrepreneurs, who would rather invest more budget in hiring an experienced programmer.

However, the risks of this latter solution are more considerable than you might think.

“Generally, programmers and IT consultancies are called upon for complex projects that require very personalized guidance. Also, if you want just a simple interface, bringing in advanced outside expertise can have unwanted consequences. For example, you may not have total control over the back-end of your website or app; No-Code solutions allow you to make whatever changes you need at any moment. Or, for instance, you might find yourself with a site or app that soon becomes obsolete; No-Code tools adapt over time to the customers’ expectations, which are constantly changing.

As the tech market is evolving rapidly, changes of habit can come around much faster than you would believe. That’s why it’s better not to commit to an overly-substantial investment when all you need is a simple interface that’s easy to use.”

Shubham Sharma

Our selection of No-Code tools

“Here are the main technical characteristics that let us know we’re dealing with a No-Code tool:

* An easy-to-use design interface that works by ‘drag and drop’ to add and place images or text on a page.

* The possibility to connect other services that allow you to interact with databases or other external sources of data.”

Maxime Champoux

There are plenty of tools out there that fit this description and that will help you grow your business more quickly. Test several among them to get used to how they work and find out if they can meet your business needs.

WebAnatomy, a toolkit to create multi-page and dynamic websites.

Swipe Pages or Carrd, for static, basic websites.

Glide and Bubble, for creating mobile apps.

Zapier or Integromat, for connecting different services to your own interface.

Notion, a digital workspace for collective and collaborative tasks.

Airtable, for integrated contact forms.

Retool, for building internal tools.

n8n, for the automation of tasks.

“Freelancers and SMEs can truly gain in flexibility and financial performance thanks to No-Code tools. In a nutshell, you keep control at all times.”

Shubham Sharma

Key learnings

No-Code tools are interfaces for building digital applications without needing to know how to code.
No-Code tech is blossoming because the concept has reached maturity. Modern solutions are easier to use, more stable and fully stacked with features that meet today’s needs.
There are no limits to No-Code. Only company culture can restrict the scope of its usage.

Useful links

The Nucode community

The no-code France community (in French), and here on Slack.

The Indie Hackers No-Code podcast.

Shubham Sharma’s YouTube channel, a source of all that’s new in No-Code (in French).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Davis

Mark worked for 12 years in broadcast journalism before making the switch to business audiences. A Qontoer since 2021, his focus is on writing copy that speaks frankly and directly to customers.