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It can be witnessed today in every single street; it is the silent transition of small businesses. The already online-ordering restaurant, the local boutique utilizing an Instagram store, the local gym with a class-booking application. These ones did not even exist five years ago, at least not at such a scale. Technology has intruded into our day-to-day operations of businesses in a manner that we could never have imagined. This is, in a way, digital transformation, not a buzzword, but a reality which is influencing the survival and growth of the small businesses.
However, the thing is the following: to the majority of small business owners, going digital continues to sound scary. The point is that it is costly, technical and demands the employment of developers or agencies using jargon language. To some, the very notion of it makes talking about entering a world that is simply too complicated. However, in recent years, a change has taken place. There is a new crop of platforms called low-code and no code tools that have enabled small businesses to go digital without having to become tech experts.
These are technology tools that are reshaping the explanations on who has a right to develop technology. And that’s a pretty big deal.
The Digital Transformation as the Everyday Meaning
Digital transformation does not involve any fancy software or complex systems. It is about improving how you already do stuff, only to do it better and quicker. To a local business, it could involve computerising your order intake and customer monitoring process or even relocating your services to the web.
It is not about the absolute transformation into a tech company, but rather a means of remaining relevant with the help of technology.
Consider the case of a small owner of a bakery in Lahore. In the case of the pandemic, they were required to close their doors and abruptly lack a means of contact with customers. They chose not to wait until someone assisted them but to create a barebones site with Shopify, an app that does not require any technical expertise and allows developers to create legendarily simple websites. The bakery was receiving an online menu, payment system and home delivery orders in a few days. No agency, no technical setup - simply a problem, a tool, the desire to change something.
This is the purest form of digital transformation raising a real issue and solving it with available technology.
What then are Low-Code and No-Code tools?
Let’s strip away the jargon. Suppose you require an application, a Web site, or a robot, when you do not know how to receive the code. Conventionally, it would have required a developer. It has become possible today with no-code tools where you can create something yourself by the visual interface, which is somewhat like assembling digital LEGO pieces. Where you drag, drop, connect and customize and can be building a functioning object before you realize it.
Low-code tools are in the mid-ground. People who may know some code or have a tech person available on the team are the target audience of them. They enable it to take less time to build things without necessarily having to create them and it is still flexible when one would require customizing the work.
Consider the no-code web application building tools of Bubble or Webflow, a business data management tool (such as Airtable), or tools to glue apps together (Make (formerly Integromat) and Zapier). In the case of low-code, solutions such as OutSystems or Appsmith provide a more useful level of control with half the time of development.
In both scenarios, it is clear that you do not require any sort of degree in computer science to create something viable and useful.
Advocacy of the use of these tools amongst the small businesses
Time and money are likely to be the greatest limitations to small businesses. Most of the founders do not have the luxury of taking six months and expend thousands of dollars before their system becomes operational. They require results immediately - and low-code/no-code tools provide precisely that.
Take a case of real estate consultancy in London. They were having hundreds of listings of properties in spreadsheets and WhatsApp groups - a nightmare of misunderstandings. They created their own mini CRM in a couple of days using Airtable (to organize the data) and Zapier (to do the automation). Each time an agent makes a change in Airtable it is automatically transferred into their webpage. No dependencies on any specific code, no dependency on any developer.
Such independence is strong. It provides the small business owners with control over their tools and processes. They are also able to fine-tune anytime they choose rather than taking weeks before another person gets the opportunity to change something.
And last but not the least, it enables them to experiment. It is affordable because you can experiment on a new idea, introduce prototypes and test ideas fast without getting too tied up. If it works, great scale it. Otherwise forfeit little.
The Human Side of the Story
Digital transformation is not actually about software. It is concerning people striving to readjust, evolve, and make things work out. A two-person Ghana-based logistics start-up was interested in minimizing the level of chaos in their day-to-day operations: missed orders, manual tracking, endless back-and-forth calls, etc. They came across Make, a no-code workflow solution, and have integrated their online order form with Google Sheets, auto driver alerts, and customer messages. They were less disorganized, their customers happier, and had hours back every day.
No new hires. No big investment. Simple interest, investigative skills, and appropriate resources.
It is in this really human story behind technology. Tools do not change everything not because they are destructive, but because people use them to simplify, quicken, and improve their life.
But It’s Not Always Perfect
Naturally, there are no boundaries to an innovation. The no-code platforms are excellent when it comes to launching a business, and as your business grows, you may begin to find the limitations. Perhaps the application is slowing down because of too many users, or you would like to have something the platform does not have.
The problem of vendor lock-in also exists, once you construct something based on a certain platform, it is not always easy to transfer it to a different platform. In the case of small businesses, that is not a dealkiller but something to consider as you expand.
Nonetheless, the advantages tend to be more than the trade-offs in the initial phases. To the majority of small teams, it is not the ambition to create the next Facebook. It is to streamline the processes, make customers feel happier, the growth more sustainable - and these tools allow one to do so without making things complicated.
Getting Started: The Easier Way to Starting
Provided that all this has become interesting but a bit overwhelming, then begin small.
Identify an element of frustration that takes place in your daily work process. One of the recurrent frustrations you may encounter every day is that you are wasting time entering spreadsheets, responding to customer messages, or manually collecting data. Start there.
Suppose you are in charge of a small design studio. Using Zapier, you would be able to create a link between your Typeform client inquiry form and your project tracker in Notion. Whenever any person completes your form, the information will automatically show in Notion. One of those boring things you do is off your list of things to do.
Or perhaps you would like to create an easy internal dashboard to monitor sales. That would take you a day with a carefully-crafted Glide or Airtable with zero coding. The more you dig the more you will most likely find out how much can be automated or done to be better not by big expensive systems but by simple clever integrations.
The Bigger Picture: Teamwork at the expense of complications
The best thing about this movement is the fact that it fills the divide between creative and technical departments. There is no more on the one hand, marketers and development on the other. In the case of low-code and no-code, teamwork works flawlessly. It is possible to prototype something with a marketer, create a landing page with a designer and then develop it with a developer all on the same base.
Such an attitude of cooperation is what the digital transformation actually is nowadays: silos busting, compartments shattering, and individuals having a chance to create solutions that address their needs.
The Future is Encouraged
The future of the small business lies no longer in terms of who has the largest budget, but the quickest adapting. The devices of this new era are low-code and no-code platforms, which permit anyone with an idea to take action on it, regardless of being a solopreneur, a neighborhood shop owner, or a start-up creator.
Digital transformation does not necessarily have to be a challenge. It begins with just a single act of automation of one task, form digitization, or by creating your first mini app. You will know how effective these tools can be the minute you see that it has worked.
There have been myriads of founders, freelancers and startups that have made that leap at Onekode not because they felt they needed to become experts in technology but because they simply wanted to go. And that is what transformation is all about, momentum.
Then do not expect the right time, or the right budget, or the right idea. Choose one issue and begin construction. These are the tools, and they are set in readiness, and you are ready, as well.
