What if you could build a fully functional app in just a few days, without relying on a team of specialized developers? In today’s business world, waiting months for custom software development can lag you behind competitors. You need solutions that can be deployed quickly, efficiently, and flexibly—this is where low-code platforms come in.
Low-code empowers you to create applications rapidly using visual tools combined with just enough coding for customization. Whether you’re looking to automate workflows, improve customer experiences, or modernize legacy systems, low-code allows you to build exactly what your business needs without getting bogged down in traditional development bottlenecks.
This blog explores practical low-code use cases across various industries. It will show how businesses like yours can use this technology to solve real-world problems.
Before diving into the specific use cases, it’s essential to understand what low-code is.
What is Low-Code?
Low-code development platforms allow you to build applications with minimal hand-coding, using graphical interfaces and pre-built components. These platforms offer drag-and-drop functionality and customizable templates, enabling you to create applications faster than traditional development methods.
With low-code, you don’t need to rely on large development teams or wait months for a project to be completed. Instead, you can quickly design and deploy software that meets your business needs, whether it's automating workflows, developing mobile apps, or modernizing legacy systems. This flexibility and speed make low-code a game-changer for businesses of all sizes.
Now that you understand the basics, let’s explore low-code use cases that solve real-world challenges and help you drive your business forward.
Top Low-Code Use Cases and Examples
1. Automating Business Workflows
You can easily streamline your business processes by automating routine workflows using low-code platforms. Whether it’s employee onboarding, approval processes, or task assignments, you’re probably spending too much time on repetitive, manual tasks. Low-code solutions enable you to create automated workflows without writing code, saving time and reducing human error.
For example, if you're in human resources, you can automate the employee onboarding process by creating a workflow that collects necessary documents, assigns tasks, and tracks progress. This allows you to reduce the administrative burden while giving new employees a smoother onboarding experience.
Pepper Content, a content marketplace platform with the help of Toolpioneers developed a feedback and resolution app. This empowered their content management teams to streamline feedback loops and resolve issues faster, improving overall workflow efficiency.
2. Improving Customer and Employee Experiences
You know delivering a great experience to customers and employees is key to business success. With low-code platforms, you can easily create customized, user-friendly applications that enhance these experiences. You can rapidly deploy customer portals, mobile apps, or self-service platforms to keep customers engaged and satisfied.
You can use low-code tools for your employees to build internal apps that simplify communication, task management, and performance tracking. Imagine giving your customer service team a portal where they can handle queries more efficiently or enabling your employees to track their tasks in real time, all without burdening your IT team.
DoorDash, a leading food delivery platform leveraged Retool, a low code platform to streamline internal operations by developing over 40 internal tools that improved the experience for their delivery team, customers, and restaurants. For instance, they replaced an inefficient Django admin interface with tools that enabled faster decision-making for their operations teams, reducing tool development time from months to hours.
3. Optimizing Applications
Building applications doesn’t have to be complex and expensive. With low-code platforms, you can develop and deploy apps quickly across multiple operating systems. This eliminates the need for separate development teams and streamlines your mobile strategy.
For example, if you run a retail business, you can use a low-code platform to launch an app that offers personalized shopping experiences, seamless checkout, and real-time customer support. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also helps you stay competitive.
Greenly, a climate tech company built internal tools for their carbon experts using Retool. One such tool was a data administration app that helped experts map business activities to carbon output. Retool enabled them to quickly iterate and deploy these apps, helping them meet sector-specific needs across various industries
4. Enabling IoT Integration
If you’re exploring the Internet of Things (IoT), you can use low-code platforms to simplify the integration and management of IoT devices. Low-code platforms come with pre-built connectors and data visualization tools, allowing you to collect, monitor, and analyze data from IoT devices without deep technical expertise.
Imagine running a manufacturing business where you can monitor real-time machinery performance. With low-code, you can build an app that alerts you when machines need maintenance, ensuring minimal downtime and higher efficiency. You can harness IoT to drive automation and innovation in your business.
WRSTBND (formerly Solomon Group), a production company specializing in large-scale events, struggled to streamline event planning due to the tedious Excel process. With low-code help, they have delivered a series of employee applications—a custom ERP, an IoT-turnstile-integrated app, and an RFID VIP Management application.
5. Facilitating New Business Models
To experiment with new business models quickly, low-code platforms allow you to easily build, test, and scale your ideas. Whether you're launching a new product or exploring a subscription-based service, low-code allows you to create the necessary applications without heavy investments in time and resources.
For instance, if you're in e-commerce, you can quickly set up a subscription platform for curated products using low-code. This allows you to test this new business model before fully committing. You get the agility to innovate and pivot faster, helping you stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market.
Collin Crowdfund, a Dutch crowdfunding platform, used low-code to build a fully customized lending platform. The platform allowed them to disrupt the traditional lending space by offering a more agile, tech-driven solution
6. Legacy Modernization
Are you dealing with outdated legacy systems that slow down operations? Low-code platforms offer a cost-effective way to modernize your infrastructure without the risks of a complete overhaul. They allow you to build new interfaces and workflows on top of your existing systems, making them more efficient and user-friendly.
For example, suppose you’re in healthcare and your legacy patient record system isn’t compatible with modern mobile devices. In that case, you can use a low-code platform to create a mobile-friendly interface. This allows your staff to access records on the go, improving efficiency without a costly system overhaul.
BAM Infra, part of the Royal BAM Group, used low-code to modernize its software solutions in just a few months. This approach drastically reduced the timeline compared to the years a traditional development process would have taken.
7. Enabling Citizen Development
You don’t have to wait for IT to create every solution for your business. Low-code platforms empower non-technical employees, often referred to as “citizen developers,” to build their own applications. This allows you and your team to solve problems faster and innovate without bottlenecks.
For example, as a marketing manager, you can create your own dashboard to track campaign performance, saving time by not relying on your IT department. This democratizes development and increases efficiency across your organization, helping you and your team get things done quicker.
Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, utilized low-code to bring together business users and IT teams in a collaborative development process. By allowing stakeholders to participate in creating applications, Optum accelerated solution delivery and improved alignment between IT and business needs. This citizen development approach enabled the company to deploy complex solutions more quickly, increasing overall agility.
8. Enhancing Data Management and Reporting
Managing and analyzing data doesn’t have to be tedious and error-prone. With low-code platforms, you can create automated reports and dashboards that pull data from multiple sources, giving you accurate, real-time insights without manual effort.
For example, if you're in finance, you can use a low-code platform to automatically gather data from sales, operations, and accounting departments into a single dashboard. This ensures you have real-time access to financial reports, improving decision-making and reducing the time spent on manual data entry.
Ramp, a corporate card and expense management company, used Retool to build internal tools, including a risk management dashboard. This dashboard allows Ramp to analyze customer data in real time and make informed decisions—such as adjusting credit limits—directly from the dashboard. By integrating data management and actions into one tool,
Ramp increased operational efficiency by 20%, saving the company an estimated $8 million.
Conclusion
You no longer have to rely on traditional, time-consuming development methods to build applications that meet your business needs. Low-code platforms offer a faster, more cost-effective solution that empowers you to automate workflows, modernize legacy systems, optimize apps, and easily explore new business models.
By embracing low-code, you gain the agility to innovate, improve customer and employee experiences, and stay ahead of the competition. Now that you understand how low-code platforms can transform your operations, it's time to accelerate innovation in your business.
At ToolPioneers with help of our Retool experts, we help you grow and transform your business. Turning your big ideas into reality—without the bottlenecks or endless coding. Ready to lead the charge in innovation? Contact ToolPioneers today and let’s build something unique, faster than you ever thought possible!