Building Apps for Financial Services with No-Code

No-code application development platforms allow anyone to build web and mobile apps without coding. These intuitive drag-and-drop platforms enable citizen developers, business users, and IT teams to quickly create custom apps that solve business problems.

No-code platforms provide numerous benefits over traditional coding:

• Faster app development with minimal training required
• Lower costs compared to hiring developers
• Empowers business users to build their own apps
• Enables quicker changes and iterations
• Reduces reliance on IT teams and developers
• Flexibility to build web, mobile, and database apps
• Hundreds of prebuilt templates, widgets, and integrations

With no-code, financial services organizations can digitize workflows, automate processes, and build custom apps tailored to their needs without coding expertise. It opens the door for innovation and agility.

What is No-Code?

No-code is a software development approach that enables people with little to no coding experience to create applications using visual, drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built templates.

With no-code, anyone can build web and mobile apps faster and easier than traditional coding. You don’t need to know programming languages like JavaScript or Swift. Instead of writing lines of complex code, you simply drag and drop pre-built components like forms, databases, workflows, and UI elements.

The no-code approach abstracts away the underlying code, allowing you to focus on app logic and user experience. Pre-built components handle the coding in the background. No-code platforms provide all the tools and infrastructure needed so that anyone can build fully-customized apps.

The main advantage of no-code is enabling citizen developers within an organization to create their own apps and automate processes without dependency on IT and developers. It democratizes app dev. No-code is also great for prototyping and MVPs. The no-code market has exploded recently as businesses seek faster and cheaper ways to digitally transform.

Benefits of No-Code

No-code platforms provide several key benefits to citizen developers that make them an attractive option for building custom web and mobile apps:

Speed

No-code platforms allow citizen developers to build apps much faster than traditional coding. Rather than writing thousands of lines of complex code, app makers can use simple drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built components to construct full-featured apps. This enables rapid app prototyping and reduces development time from months to weeks or even days.

Affordability

No-code tools drastically reduce the need for expensive, highly-skilled developers and long project timelines. Apps can be built by citizen developers with no formal coding skills at a fraction of the cost and effort of custom development. This makes custom apps affordable for small businesses and departments within large enterprises.

Flexibility

The modular, visual approach of no-code enables quick and easy changes to app design, logic, integrations, and more. Tweaks can be made without altering underlying code. This agility and flexibility aids iterative development and continuous improvement after launch. Apps can be quickly adapted to changing business needs.

No-Code Platforms

No-code platforms empower anyone to build custom web without coding. They provide visual, drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built components to develop full-featured applications. Some popular no-code platforms include:

• Aire – A fully AI-powered no-code web app builder that lets you build business process and database apps directly from text prompts.

• Appian – A low-code platform for building enterprise apps and automating complex business processes. It focuses on data and integration capabilities.

• Bubble – A visual programming editor for building web apps without code. It uses a logic-based workflow and database tools.

• Airtable – A spreadsheet-database hybrid to build lightweight apps and workflows. It has interface blocks, templates, and automation.

• Zoho Creator – A database app builder with a drag-and-drop form designer and workflow automation. It connects to other Zoho apps.

• Appy Pie – A code-free app maker for consumer and business apps on web and mobile. Pre-built templates and customization options.

• Quick Base – A customizable database platform for SaaS apps, business process management, and workflow automation.

• Caspio – A database builder for web apps and business dashboards. Integration and automation features.

• Glide – A no-code dev platform for enterprise apps. Robust customization and scalability features.

These platforms provide the tools and services to build fully functional apps without coding expertise. They enable rapid development and empower non-technical users.

No-Code for Financial Services

Financial services organizations have many use cases for custom apps built with no-code platforms. Some examples include:

• Audit Management Apps – Apps to plan, execute, and track internal audits. They can include audit checklists, workflow management, and document storage for audit evidence. This helps streamline the audit process.

• Client Onboarding Apps – Automate client onboarding workflows by building apps to gather client information, validate it, and transfer it between systems. This reduces manual work and errors.

• Loan Processing Apps – Loan officers can use apps to enter loan application data, calculate terms, run credit checks, and transfer data to loan origination systems. This makes the loan process faster.

• Customer Service Apps – Create apps with knowledge bases, chatbots, and workflows to assist customer service agents and improve customer satisfaction.

• Compliance Tracking Apps – Build apps to manage compliance tasks like risk assessments, policy attestations, training assignments, and deadline tracking. Centralize compliance evidence.

• Business Intelligence Apps – Develop easy-to-use dashboards and data visualizations to provide insights into organizational performance across departments. Democratize data access.

The configurable nature of no-code platforms allows financial services firms to quickly build custom apps tailored to their unique needs and processes. This improves efficiency, automation, and accuracy across the organization.

Building Apps with No-Code

No-code app development platforms allow anyone to build custom web and mobile apps without coding. Here are the key steps for citizen developers to follow when building an app with a no-code platform:

App Design

The first step is to design your app’s user interface and workflow. No-code platforms provide drag-and-drop design tools to arrange screens, buttons, forms, menus, and other elements visually. Think through the app structure, navigation, screens, and logic flow. Sketch wireframes to conceptualize the layout.

When designing apps with a no-code platform, there are several key considerations:

• User experience – The app should have an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface. Carefully consider the user journey and ensure a seamless flow between screens. Use layout principles like consistency, clear navigation, and responsive design.

• Branding – Incorporate visual branding like logos, fonts, and color schemes to match the company or product. This helps convey professionalism and recognition.

• Functionality – Determine the core app capabilities needed to deliver the required features and functionality. Prioritize must-have functions over nice-to-have.

• Data structures – Plan how data will be organized and accessed within the app. Consider relationships between data types like one-to-many or many-to-many.

• Integration – Evaluate what APIs, databases, or other systems the app may need to integrate with. Platforms like Zapier can help connect cloud apps.

• Scalability – Design the architecture and data model to allow for future growth in traffic, storage, or features.

• Security – Apply secure design principles like encryption, access controls, and validation. Don’t expose more data than necessary.

Thoughtful design is crucial for creating successful no-code apps tailored to a business’s specific needs and constraints. Leveraging templates and best practices helps launch quality apps quickly.

App Development

Next, use the no-code platform’s pre-built components to construct the app screens and connect them through the defined workflow. Configure the components by setting their properties and actions through a GUI instead of coding. Build in forms, charts, calendars, notifications, and other features as needed. Connect to data sources and APIs.

Developing an app with a no-code platform involves dragging and dropping app components like forms, databases, logic, and UI elements to build the app visually. The no-code platform handles translating the visual app design into actual code behind the scenes.

Some key steps in developing a no-code app include:

• Designing the app screens and interface – This involves adding elements like forms, buttons, lists, and more using a visual editor. You arrange elements on the screen through a drag-and-drop interface.

• Connecting app screens – You can link app screens together to create intuitive workflows and navigation.

• Configuring app logic – No-code platforms provide options to add logic to your app with simple triggers, conditions, variables, calculations and more without coding.

• Integrating data sources – You can connect your app to data sources like databases, APIs, spreadsheets and more. The no-code platform handles data integration seamlessly.

• Applying styles and branding – Most no-code platforms allow extensive styling options for colors, fonts, themes and more through a visual style editor.

• Adding security – Options like user registration, authentication, access controls and permissions can be added to your app visually.

• Testing and debugging – No-code platforms provide testing tools and debuggers to test your app during and after development.

With a no-code platform, you can build a functioning app entirely visually through drag-and-drop and configuration instead of traditional coding. The development process is quick and intuitive.

App Testing

Once an initial version is ready, thoroughly test your no-code app. Check all screens, inputs, workflows, integrations, and actions. Identify any bugs or issues. No-code platforms facilitate iterative testing and rapid modifications as needed.

Thorough testing is critical for any application before deployment. No-code platforms provide built-in testing tools and emulators to test apps without needing real devices. Here are some tips for testing no-code apps:

• Functionality testing – Test all features and use cases to ensure correct behavior. Click through every screen and button to catch bugs.

• User interface testing – Validate that UI elements appear correctly on different screen sizes. Check responsiveness by adjusting emulator dimensions.

• Cross-browser testing – Test the app on different browser emulators to catch compatibility issues.

• Automated testing – Leverage built-in testing suites to automate regression and integration testing.

• Debugging – Inspect elements and activate debug modes to identify and fix errors. Log events to output debug statements.

• Performance testing – Stress test with simulated usage at scale to catch slowdowns. Profile load times and optimization.

• Security testing – Validate form inputs are sanitized and authenticated. Check for vulnerabilities like SQL injection.

• Accessibility testing – Ensure compliance with accessibility standards for disabled users.

• Beta testing – Release beta versions for user feedback before full launch.

Testing is an iterative process. Rigorously test throughout development, not just at the end, to catch issues early. No-code platforms provide many tools to streamline testing without coding.

App Deployment

After testing, deploy your app to make it accessible to users. No-code platforms allow deploying to web, mobile, or desktop. Consider security, user access, scaling needs, performance, and monitoring.

Once an app is fully developed and tested, the next step is to deploy it so that it can be accessed and used. Deploying an app built with a no-code platform is straightforward compared to traditional app development.

With no-code, there are usually built-in options to deploy the app to the web or make it available on mobile app stores. For web deployment, the no-code platform will handle all the technical aspects like hosting the app on servers and configuring domains. The app builder can simply select the “deploy” option, and the app will be live on the internet within minutes.

For mobile apps, the no-code platform integrates with app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The app can be submitted to these stores and made available for download by users. The no-code platform streamlines the submission and publishing process.

An advantage of no-code deployment is that it allows non-technical users to deploy apps on their own without engineering resources. Updates can also be deployed quickly by rebuilding and republishing the app. This enables continuous delivery and improvement of apps after the initial launch.

Overall, no-code platforms make deploying finished apps simple and fast compared to traditional app development. This allows anyone to bring their app idea to market with minimal technical barriers.

App Maintenance

Launching your app is just the beginning. Plan to continually maintain and improve it. Use analytics to track usage patterns and identify areas for optimization. Regularly test for bugs and fix issues. Release enhancements and new features. No-code’s drag-and-drop environment makes ongoing maintenance and iteration easy.

Once an app is launched, ongoing maintenance is required to keep it running smoothly. This involves:

• Bug Fixes – No matter how well an app is tested, bugs will inevitably arise once real users start interacting with it. Developers need to identify, reproduce, and fix these bugs in a timely manner.

• Performance Tuning – Apps should be monitored for performance issues like slow load times. Performance can be improved by optimizing code, caching data, and upgrading infrastructure if needed.

• Feature Updates – New features will need to be added over time to keep an app competitive. Planning a roadmap for future features and making time for development is key.

• User Testing – Changes and new features should be tested with real users to ensure they work as intended before deploying updates.

• Security Patching – Apps require ongoing security patching and vulnerability testing to protect against cyberthreats. Developers must stay on top of patching any known system vulnerabilities.

• Backup and Recovery – Data loss can occur due to system failures. Apps need regular backups and a disaster recovery plan for restoring data and getting systems back online quickly.

• Integration Updates – If an app integrates with other systems, those systems may change over time, requiring updates to maintain compatibility.

• Regulatory Compliance – Apps may need to be updated to comply with new regulations or laws. Staying aware of changing compliance requirements is essential.

With careful ongoing maintenance, apps can continue meeting user needs and running smoothly for years after initial launch. Neglecting app maintenance will result in bugs, performance issues, and security vulnerabilities over time.

Following a structured development approach helps ensure no-code apps meet requirements and provide value to end users. The flexible no-code environment empowers rapid iterations and improvements after launch.

Data Security

Financial services organizations handle sensitive customer data and must ensure it is properly secured. No-code platforms provide robust features to secure app data including:

• User authentication – Apps can require users to login with secure credentials before accessing data. Multi-factor authentication provides an added layer of verification.

• Role-based access controls – User permissions can be configured to limit data access to only necessary users. For example, customer service reps may only view client profiles, while managers can view full transaction histories.

• Data encryption – Sensitive data like SSNs and account numbers can be encrypted at rest and in transit for security.

• Audit logs – Activity logs provide visibility into data access, modification, and transfers. Unauthorized access can be identified.

• Data compliance – Features like data anonymization and retention rules help meet regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.

• Backups – Apps built on no-code platforms leverage cloud infrastructure, providing automatic backups and disaster recovery.

With thoughtful access controls, encryption, and monitoring, no-code apps can enable secure data usage while limiting exposure of sensitive information. Citizen developers without coding expertise can build secure apps compliant with financial regulations.

Access Control

No-code platforms provide several options for managing access control within apps. Role-based access control allows you to assign permissions to specific user roles. For example, you may want auditors to have read-only access to audit data, while audit managers can also edit and approve records. Row-level security locks down data rows to only authorized users. Contextual access control grants access based on factors like user location or device.

No-code tools make it easy for citizen developers to set up single sign-on via OAuth and integrate with enterprise identity providers. Multi-factor authentication can add an extra layer of user verification. Usage-based access control can restrict access after a certain time period or number of app uses. Dynamic access control automatically adapts permissions based on contextual factors. Built-in audit logs provide visibility into who accessed what and when.

Overall, no-code platforms provide granular options for managing app access without complex coding. Citizen developers can leverage these capabilities through simple configuration screens rather than writing custom authorization logic. This allows rapid development of secure apps that align to an organization’s policies.

Automating Processes

No-code platforms provide powerful workflow automation capabilities for citizen developers to streamline business processes without coding. By connecting apps, data, and APIs, no-code enables creating complex workflows for approvals, notifications, data collection, processing, analytics, and more.

Key automation features include:

• Connectors to integrate apps and data across systems. This allows capturing data from one app to trigger actions in another.

• Logic builders with drag and drop rules to model processes. Simple conditional logic can automate multi-step workflows.

• Pre-built templates for common processes like approvals, surveys, help desks. These accelerate development.

• Robust data management with databases, forms, and reporting to collect, analyze and visualize data.

• Integration with RPA bots, AI, and other emerging technologies to incorporate advanced automation.

• End-to-end process visibility with audit trails, analytics, and monitoring.

With no-code automation, financial services firms can track processes like audits, claims, lending applications, and more from start to finish. This improves efficiency, accuracy and compliance. Citizens developers can build and modify workflows rapidly without IT help. No-code automation unlocks the benefits of streamlined operations and improved customer experience.

Conclusion

No-code application development platforms provide immense value for organizations across all industries, especially in the financial services sector. With intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built templates, no-code platforms empower teams to rapidly build, iterate, and deploy custom web and mobile apps to digitize workflows and processes.

Citizen developers with no coding skills can take advantage of no-code to automate manual tasks, integrate data across systems, and create tailored solutions aligned with specific business needs. The ability to quickly build apps without relying on IT and developers enables greater organizational agility and innovation.

While no-code solutions offer immense potential, it’s critical to evaluate options carefully based on factors like security, scalability, governance, and extensibility. Leading no-code platforms provide enterprise-grade capabilities like role-based access control, audit logs, and integration with single sign-on systems to enable secure app development.

Overall, no-code application development presents a huge opportunity for financial services organizations to empower business teams, reduce costs, boost productivity, and digitally transform. With the right platform choice and governance strategy, no-code can unlock tremendous business value.

Try Aire for Free Today!

Getting the custom app your business or team needs doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive or time-consuming. With Aire, you can quickly build a custom business process and database app tailored to your organization’s specific needs and processes – no coding required!

Try the Aire no-code AI app-builder for free.

Experience firsthand how Aire’s AI assistant can turn a simple text prompt into a complete working app. Customize and enhance the app with Aire’s intuitive no-code tools. And deploy your app on your own dedicated Aire Hub instance to manage users and add further complexity.