Blog
Task Automation: How To Get More Done With Less
Contact Us
If you’ve ever found yourself in a kitchen with the wrong ingredients, limited utensils or no instructions, cooking a meal can be difficult. The same can be said for creating automation. Without the knowledge of the structures that make up a meal, or in our case, the code that makes up an automation, you can get stuck.
But what if you have a no-code recipe kit to help?
Technology is more accessible than ever before. The rise of no-code tools helps business users with little to no coding skills to build, design and publish technologies they’ve made from their very own desktops. And thanks to the success of automation, we now have no-code automation too.
Coding is at the heart of every automated piece of technology, but not everyone who wants to create automation knows how to code. That’s where no-code automation comes in. No-code is a tool or platform that helps users build applications without using programming languages. Instead, you see a graphical interface to help you build out functionalities. This can be as simple as drag-and-drop interfaces.
With no-code automation, you can empower your teams to automate business processes regardless of technical expertise or coding knowledge. This means you can process workflows more efficiently and with more agility. You can think of it this way: No-code automation serves as a powerful and accessible entryway into the larger realm of business process automation.
Citizen developers are non-IT employees (non-technical people) familiar with the business objectives and processes, trained to create no-code or low-code automation using simple, drag-and-drop features to develop more efficient end-to-end processes in an organization. They work to develop enterprise-grade applications to be used by themselves or other business teams.
You might have also read about low-code automation and thought, what’s the difference? While no-code requires users to have absolutely zero coding skills, low-code involves some level of knowledge.
Generally, this can mean that users use simple, pre-built features to build out their automations on a platform, but for anything more complex or specific, some level of programming knowledge is required. For example, in low-code automation, your workflow might need a specific trigger unavailable as a pre-built option.
No-code | Low-code | Traditional approach | |
Ease of use | No coding skills or technical knowledge is required. | Some basic coding and technology skills are required. | Employees are trained in programming and scripting knowledge. |
Learning curve | Shallow learning curve with understandable visuals and pre-built interfaces and functions. | Depending on who’s using this tool, there’s a slightly steeper learning curve due to code and platform knowledge. | Steep learning curve. Employees spend years learning and training in programming languages. |
Speed | Rapid development thanks to easy-to-use functions. | Slightly longer development process due to coding requirements. | Laborious design process and development processes may take significant time and effort. |
Target users | Non-technical users and citizen development | Developers, IT professionals and coders. | Developers, IT professionals and automation experts. |
Whether you decide to use no-code or low-code automation (or even a traditional approach) will depend on your automation goal in mind, as well as the users involved in creating and triggering these events. You can also learn more about different automation software beyond no-code and low-code that help your business streamline operations.
Each no-code automation tool will have different essential features, depending on your chosen platform. In general, features can include:
Here are some common types of no-code automation tools that use some of the above features:
Workflows let you create and automate how tasks flow by connecting various triggers and actions. They help automate repetitive tasks and manual processes by integrating popular business applications (such as Microsoft Excel). Often, workflow automations offer pre-built templates to make it even easier to automate tasks.
Robotic process automation (RPA) is an easy-to-use type of automation software that deploys RPA bots that mimic human actions. You teach these software robots to perform business processes by giving them step-by-step actions. This frees your employees from monotonous tasks and saves businesses hours of labor time. You can learn more about RPA and its foundational importance for intelligent process automation and cognitive automation in our comprehensive guide.
No-code automation brings a wealth of benefits to your organization. Some of the most significant ones include:
Through its features and benefits, no-code automation tools have enhanced the accessibility of automation for a diverse range of business functions. Ultimately, employees can use no-code tools to help relieve their mundane and repetitive tasks, freeing up their precious time to focus on more strategic work.
By building automations on their own, you’re empowering employees to take control of business processes and automate their tasks. This enhances their autonomy and allows them to adapt and customize their work based on their specific needs.
Here are some examples of automation capabilities and applications across business units that can be easily built through no-code automation:
Many businesses also use no-code automation platforms alongside their existing SAP systems to further enhance their resource planning and automation capabilities. They easily integrate to help optimize processes without relying on custom coding or tech expertise as there are pre-built accelerators. Learn more about how AGCO, a global manufacturer of farm equipment, increased their efficiency here.
When looking for a no-code automation tool, think of your business goals in mind and look for the following core features to ensure you have an effective tool:
The rise of no-code tools has opened up a world of possibilities for businesses that previously didn’t have the automation capabilities. It has essentially leveled the playing field. Employees across various roles and skills don’t need to know code to streamline their roles.
If you’d like to learn more about no-code or low-code automation solutions to help you get started, reach out to us for a friendly conversation.
If your network blocks YouTube, you may not be able to view the video on this page. In this case, please use another device. Pressing play on the video will set third-party YouTube cookies. Please read our Cookies Policy for more information.