How to build totally intuitive apps in minutes

This is the no code future.

Build a business app, from scratch, in under one hour. And create it for a standard smartphone without writing a single line of code.

This was our challenge. Essentially, we were asking the app development experts in our Clustre eco-system to put their award-winning reputation on the line. To take centre stage at a Clustre online event and – watched by a very savvy, but sceptical, senior executive audience – to build a zero-code business app in under 60 minutes.

They accepted the challenge without a second’s hesitation.

To prevent any prior warning and preparation, the app-building task was set, by an executive guest, on the day of the event: ‘Create a fully-functioning, totally secure, online shopping app for supermarket customers.’ The instant the task was set,we started the stopwatch.

Using his laptop, the lone developer opened his team’s app-building tool and went to work…

• First, he began by creating a listing of popular supermarket products – oranges, bananas, strawberries, potatoes, carrots, bread, milk, fish, meat, the staple produce in most family shopping trolleys.
• Then, he logged into ‘Unsplash’ – the free photographic library – to find a definitive picture for each item. To cut across language barriers and to make this app universally accessible, the developer wisely opted for iconic imagery rather than words.

• The correct bar code was then scanned and married to each item to facilitate order processing.

• Each image was then priced. Effectively, the process of putting an item – or multiple items – into the virtual trolley had now been reduced to an instant image and item quantity click.

• After checking the shopping basket, the customer could then check out. Another effortless feature of this app. The complex security protocols that normally take weeks to construct are already built into the back end of the app tool. Everything is baked in and ready to go.

• All the developer had to do then was to press the ‘generate’ button and transfer the app to his personal iPhone.

Listing a small number of sample items, this working app took just 22 minutes to build from scratch. A tedious coding process that traditionally takes days or even weeks had been telescoped into mere minutes. This was more than impressive… this is the future for app development.

Admittedly, ‘no-code’ app tools are not new. There are scores of products available – but very few are genuine enterprise tools for building enterprise-grade mobile apps. To appreciate why, you need to understand the market…

The spectrum of app tools is very polarised. At one end, you will find the start-up builder apps – functional but basically limited. At the other, are the big enterprise platforms from global giants that want you to buy their no-code offerings so they can sell you their big systems. But only a handful of products sit in the middle ground. For example, the app we had just seen in action commands a ‘sweet spot’ that is attracting serious interest from three key markets:

1. Development teams that do not have either the time or the niche skills to build mobile apps. Rather than recruit or buy-in external talent, they are opting for this tool because it gives them the niche capability to build native mobile apps… and build them fast.

• Business leaders who want to participate in prototyping ideas and refining concepts. Because this tool is so intuitive, virtually anyone can confidently work with it.

• Internal innovation teams that need a quick, bullet-proof way to test ideas and progress the good ones rapidly through to production.

To remain impartial and credible, our Point-of-View documents always remain neutral. We never promote any product or member firm by name. But there is an undeniable pride in being closely associated with such a game-changer. This app-building tool is the product of 14-years’ hard-won experience. The know-how from over 200 mobile apps… over 100 million users…  and app revenues in excess of $5 billion has been distilled into its creation. It really is rather special.

If you would like to learn more and to meet the team behind this app development tool, we would be delighted to introduce you to our world-class experts. Simply click this link: innovation@clustre.net