How do you deploy no-code in your company?

By eliminating manual coding, no-code offers companies a faster a faster, more accessible and cost-effective approach to creating custom applications and software solutions. How can you make a successful transition to no-code? How can you effectively manage change within your company? Find all the answers in this article. And if you're interested in this subject, you can also read our no-code guide.

Here's an overview of the 7 key steps to successfully deploying your no-code solution in the enterprise

Step 1: Assess your company's needs

To define an appropriate deployment strategy, you need to start by identifying your company's specific needs.

Step 2: Identify your no-code ambassadors

A team of enthusiastic and motivated ambassadors will play a key role in the adoption and expansion of no-code within your organization.

Step 3: Choose a no-code platform that meets your needs

Make a comparative study of the solutions available to choose the no-code platform that will perfectly meet your strategic challenges and development objectives.

Step 4: Forming teams

Train your teams to help them better grasp the concepts of no-code, its specific tools and the full range of available functionalities.

Step 5: Deploy no-code in 3 phases

Follow these 3 key deployment phases to ensure a successful transition to the no-code solution of your choice.  

• Phase 1: Start small and choose a pilot project
• Phase 2: Using feedback
• Phase 3: Gradually increase the use of no-code

Step 6: Manage maintenance and support operations

Robust, responsive technical support is essential for diagnosing and resolving errors to maintain continuity of operations and avoid costly downtime.

Step 7: Manage upgrades and updates

Managing changes and updates to your no-code platform is essential to keep it running smoothly and getting the most out of it.

Now that we've had an overview of the no-code solution implementation process, let's dive into each step.

Step 1. Assess your company's needs

To define the most appropriate no-code deployment strategy for your company, you need to start by identifying your application development and process automation requirements.

To do this, you need to carefully assess the initial situation by taking stock of all the processes used by your teams. This essential step in scoping your project will make it easier to identify your operational challenges and the business processes that could be improved, simplified or streamlined: manual, repetitive, time-consuming, error-prone or malfunction-prone tasks...

To determine which processes could be optimized, make sure you also solicit and involve all stakeholders (end-users, operations managers, IT managers...) to understand their specific needs. They will be able to provide you with valuable information on the friction points in your operations and the weak points in your organization.

Once you've identified the opportunities for improvement, evaluate them in terms of business value and return on investment. This will help you prioritize the processes to be optimized, taking into account their importance and impact on your organization (cost reduction, improved operational efficiency, enhanced customer experience...).

In summary, identifying the specific areas where no-code can add value to your organization will help you determine the best approach for your project, but don't forget that assessing no-code needs is an iterative process. It will be important to periodically reassess your company's needs to ensure that no-code continues to meet your requirements and business objectives.

Step 2. Identify your no-code ambassadors  

Before you start rolling out no-code in your company, it's important to identify the employees who are enthusiastic, motivated and capable of embracing this new way of working.

To introduce the concept to your employees, you can organize discussion groups or workshops. Explain the advantages and possibilities offered by no-code, and watch out for reactions: spot people who ask pertinent questions, express a desire to know more, or are interested in the idea of taking part in pilot projects.

To help you better target employees who could be good ambassadors, note that certain skills can be very useful for working effectively with no-code tools:

• The ability to think logically and in a structured way
• A clear understanding of workflows;
• The ability to identify potential obstacles;
• The ability to find alternative solutions;
• A good understanding of basic design principles;
• And a certain creativity.

You can also ask team leaders or your HR department to find out whether any employees have already successfully carried out no-code projects - to solve problems or improve processes - at another company.

By identifying employees who are enthusiastic and motivated by no-code, you can form a team of pioneers who will play a key role in the adoption and expansion of no-code within your organization. They can organize presentations, share resources, offer informal training sessions or be available to answer questions from interested colleagues.

Step 3. Choose a no-code platform that meets your needs

Not all no-code platforms are the same, and there are a wide variety of tools available on the market today: Ksaar, Bubble, Zapier, Webflow, Airtable... To find out more, take a look at our article on the best no-code tools.

To choose the no-code platform that's right for your needs, do a comparative study of the solutions available, explore technology solutions, consult suppliers, request demonstrations and evaluate the different options according to your specific requirements.

To help you choose a no-code platform, we recommend that you take a closer look at the following criteria:

• Security and protection of sensitive data;
• Scalability and the ability to keep pace with your business growth;
• Application and website customization ;
• Flexibility in terms of destination media;
• User documentation must be clear and complete;
• Community and experience-sharing opportunities;
• User-friendliness, ergonomics and simplicity;
• The proposed functionalities, which should enable you to successfully complete your project ;
• Pre-designed models for a quick start ;
• Integration with software already in use in your company;
• Technical support, which must be both responsive and solid;
• Pricing and packages.

By precisely defining your company's needs and considering each of the criteria listed above, you'll be able to choose the no-code platform that best meets your strategic challenges and development objectives.

Step 4. Form the teams

Although no-code doesn't require advanced programming skills, there are some technical skills to learn in order to better grasp its concepts, specific tools and the full range of functions available, such as :  

• Workflow configuration
• Creation and automation techniques
• Integration of different applications
• Creating user interfaces

In order to train your employees properly, it's essential to identify the no-code tools you plan to use in your company. Most platforms offer detailed documentation and training resources.

You can also explore learning platforms that offer courses and tutorials on no-code such as Udemy, Coursera or LinkedIn Learning. There are free tutorials available on YouTube, Medium or specialized blogs.

If you have identified no-code experts within your organization, train them to become in-house trainers. They'll be able to share their expertise and coach other team members.

It's important to stress that training is not limited to end-users, but also to system administrators, project managers and all other stakeholders involved in the adoption of no-code.

Finally, don't forget that learning no-code is an ongoing process. Join specialized communities and forums, participate in no-code events and continue to explore new tools to develop your skills, keep up with trends and stay on the cutting edge.

Step 5. Deploy no-code in 3 phases

After determining your company's needs and forming a group of no-code ambassadors, encourage team members to put their skills into practice by experimenting and working on concrete projects. Start with a pilot project before gradually stepping up the use of no-code in your organization.  

Phase 1. Start small: choose a pilot project to begin with.

To get started with no-code, it's often advisable to launch a pilot project to test tools and concepts while minimizing risks.

Start by identifying a specific objective you want to achieve with the pilot project. This could be automating a specific process, building an application or solving a particular problem.

In all cases, choose a project that is simple yet relevant and aligned with your organization's needs, to demonstrate that no-code can bring added value and tangible results. Indeed, pilot projects will serve as concrete examples to convince other members of the company of the usefulness of no-code.

We also advise you to involve end-users from the very start of the project, so as to obtain their comments, suggestions and active participation throughout the process. Their support is invaluable in ensuring the project's success.

By launching a pilot project, you explore the capabilities of no-code, test its impact on your business and gather key arguments for making informed decisions about wider adoption.

Phase 2. Use feedback to improve and adjust.

Once you've launched your pilot project, using feedback is essential to improving your use of no-code.

To make the most of our feedback, we recommend you follow these simple steps:

• Set up feedback mechanisms (surveys, interviews, workshops);
• Analyze feedback to identify strengths and specific opportunities for improvement (common malfunctions, missing functionalities, inefficient processes, etc.).
• Prioritize improvement opportunities according to their potential impact and feasibility. Take into account the resources available, the time required and the strategic importance of each improvement.
• Once the priority improvements have been identified, implement the changes (process adjustments, additional training, development of new functionalities, etc.).
• Evaluate the effectiveness of implemented improvements by monitoring results and user feedback.

Repeat this iterative process of continuous improvement to ensure optimal use of no-code over time.

Phase 3. Gradually increase the use of no-code within the company.

Once you've established a solid foundation with the pilot projects, gradually extend the use of no-code to other areas and teams. To do this, you'll need to start by identifying new opportunities for automation and application creation, and encouraging teams to explore them.

To spread the use of no-code, we advise you to foster collaboration between the different departments in your company by encouraging the sharing of experience and knowledge. Organize best-practice sharing sessions, demonstrations and workshops.

It's also important to highlight the successes achieved through the use of no-code. Celebrate team achievements and share tangible results such as efficiency gains, time savings or process improvements. This will boost motivation and interest in no-code within your organization.

In conclusion, following these 3 main deployment phases will enable you to deploy no-code progressively and successfully within your company, maximizing benefits, fostering continuous improvement and enabling widespread adoption of no-code by your employees.

Step 6. Manage maintenance and support operations

Technical anomalies can occur when using a no-code platform. The role of support is to diagnose and resolve these errors to maintain continuity of operations and avoid costly interruptions.

Technical support must also perform preventive maintenance tasks to anticipate problems before they become critical. This may include updates, performance and vulnerability monitoring, capacity management or regular data backup.

The technical team is also dedicated to helping users who may encounter difficulties when using no-code applications, whether in creating, editing or executing workflows. Technical support answers their questions, guides them and helps them make the most of the platform's functionalities.

Choosing a no-code solution that guarantees responsive, solid technical support and regular maintenance of its tools will help maximize the benefits of no-code within your company, but you can also choose to entrust the maintenance of your no-code platform to an in-house IT team or an outsourced IT department.

In any case, whichever entity is responsible for platform maintenance, it's important to have a clear process for reporting anomalies. Make sure that responsibilities are clear from the outset, and that there is an effective channel of communication with the parties concerned, to ensure optimum maintenance of your no-code tool.

Step 7. Manage evolutions and updates

Platforms evolve rapidly. It's essential to keep abreast of developments and updates to the no-code tools you use. Subscribe to newsletters, follow blogs and social media accounts of no-code tool providers. This will keep you informed of new features, bug fixes and enhancements to the tools.

When an update is available, evaluate the proposed changes. Review release notes, changelogs and information provided by tool vendors. Identify features that could be useful for your business, and assess the potential impact on your existing applications.

In any case, before updating your applications with a new version of a no-code tool, carry out thorough regression testing. Check that existing functionalities still work correctly, and that external integrations are compatible with the update. Make sure you test key scenarios to avoid regressions or unexpected problems.

Before you carry out a major update, be sure to back up your applications and data. In the event of a problem during the update, you'll be able to go back to the previous version.

Finally, if updates bring significant changes to the user interface or functionality, plan training sessions or training resources to help users adapt to new versions.