AWS launches spreadsheet-flavored no-code app service
Connecting state and local government leaders
Honeycode uses using familiar spreadsheet conventions, like sheets, tables, values, and formulas to help users build custom apps.
Amazon Web Services is getting into the low-code/no-code market with the beta release of Honeycode, a service that lets non-developers build mobile and web applications.
Honeycode uses using familiar spreadsheet conventions, like sheets, tables, values and formulas to help users build custom apps and take advantage of new formulas built into Honeycode.
The service comes with customizable templates for common apps, including to-do lists, customer trackers, surveys, inventory management, time-off reports, team task trackers and event management. Users can also import their own CSV data onto the service.
Honeycode lets users easily add interactivity into their apps with a drop-down menu that includes buttons and input fields, for instance. They can also program their apps to automatically perform table modifications in response to specific actions.
The low-code/no-code development space has picked up steam in recent years as affordable trained developers become more scarce and the demand for enterprise applications, especially mobile apps, grows. The technology targets "ordinary business users" by relying on visually-oriented drag-and-drop composability, wizard-driven workflows, WYSIWYG editors, ready-made templates and other helper tools.
The cloud-based service also can provide more uniform access to data when it is used across an organization.
Such approaches have caught on in government. The Federal Transit Administration redeveloped its case management systems using a low-code, fast-app development processes with Appian, and the Department of Agriculture tapped cloud and low-code platform provider Salesforce to develop a funding program to expedite its rural broadband loan program. The General Services Administration is also using a low-code-developed app to help it manage leases for its buildings across the nation.
Municipalities have been building home-grown low-code solutions as well, focusing on common human resources tasks and ensuring compliance with regulations governing management of firefighting assets -- from truck and hoses to Band-Aids.
AWS said organizations can get started creating applications with the beta tool in minutes. They can build applications with up to 20 users for free, only paying for the users and storage required for larger applications.
More information is available on the AWS website.