Low-code workflow automation is a transformative approach that empowers organizations to streamline processes, reduce manual tasks, and accelerate development without relying heavily on traditional coding.
By combining visual development tools with powerful automation capabilities, low-code platforms enable both IT professionals and business users to design, deploy, and adapt workflows with unprecedented speed and flexibility.
Whether you're looking to eliminate bottlenecks, enhance collaboration, or respond swiftly to changing market demands, low-code workflow automation offers a scalable solution that’s reshaping how modern enterprises operate.
For suggestions on successfully onboarding new tech, watch Impact’s webinar, Why Your Tech Rollouts Fail (and What to Do About It).
Understanding Low-Code Workflow Automation
Low-code workflow automation is a method for creating automation software to facilitate workflow tasks and deploying them quickly through an abridged development cycle compared to traditional means of coding and software development.
Unlike typical ways of application development, low-code operates with a visual platform, allowing developers to take a “drag-and-drop” approach that is far less reliant on standard methods of DevOps.
Because of this, low-code workflow automation projects are cheaper and quicker to develop and deploy, allowing businesses to automate processes that would have previously been considered not significant enough to invest heavily in automation for.
These tasks will often concern manual, repeatable jobs performed by a human, commonly things like data entry, but thanks to low-code, can be more sophisticated in nature as regards the workflow-at-large.
As a result of low-code workflow automation, humans can be freed up from having to perform menial tasks and instead can be utilized in a more effective way.
In addition to this, workflow automation allows for significant benefits—not least better visibility and oversight, as well as standardization for compliance purposes for tasks.
RPA vs. Low-Code
For those wondering if low-code automation sounds eerily familiar to robotic process automation (RPA), then we should probably address the differences between the two.
Generally speaking, RPA is best used when it’s employed to automate simple and repetitive tasks, often in isolation.
These tasks will typically be predictable and routine, making it a rather simple process to implement a software bot to take care of it.
Low-code, on the other hand, is best used as part of a wider strategy of app development across an entire company.
It, too, can be used to automate those simple tasks, but also to build new applications, improve the use of existing applications, and integrate legacy and third-party systems to automatically move data through workflows in a more effective way.
RPA can be thought of as a one-and-done approach to automation, whereas low-code can be thought of as more comprehensive, capable of handling more complex projects while offering more sophisticated opportunities in streamlining workflows across lines of business.
How Are Businesses Using Low-Code Workflow Automation?
Approaches to automation in business vary significantly depending on what the individual organization wants to achieve.
Some may just want a simple software app that helps integrate a legacy application into their cloud ERP, while others may be embarking on a process of hyperautomation that looks to automate every applicable task on an ongoing basis.
The following are a few examples of what organizations can use low-code automation for in their business.
Customer-facing Portal
For many businesses operating with legacy systems for managing customer interactions, they can spend inordinate amounts of time manually processing requests.
This is particularly the case in industries that still heavily rely on paper-based documentation and workflows, like law and insurance.
Creating a customer-facing portal with a low-code app can allow companies to automate these workflows end-to-end, with the customer using self-service software that is intuitive and speedy.
This means that customers can perform simple tasks themselves and allow the automated workflow take care of it without having to wait for a business representative to facilitate the workflow.
These automated approval process workflows can be created to be as complex or as simple as necessary, establishing logic-driven outcomes that reach the right stakeholders at the right time when process requirements are met for the workflow.
Scalability is also something that can be achieved easily, allowing businesses to increase or decrease resources necessary to power the automation platform depending on how much they need at any given time.
Operational Efficiency
Operational efficiency can be achieved through low-code automation by automating processes end-to-end within a business, eliminating the need for manual intervention and reducing reliance on paper-based processes.
These types of solutions can be seamlessly integrated into virtually any application, meaning low-code apps can serve a significant operational role in linking together business applications and automating the data flows between them.
This is also an opportunity for organizations to ensure that they are in compliance with the necessary regulations by creating clear, standardized rules for their workflows and having complete visibility over when sensitive data is being sent, where it's being stored, and how it's being handled and by whom.
Legacy Migration
Legacy applications can be difficult to manage for businesses today.
This is because of a few principal reasons: most often their flexibility as to ease-of-use for end users, the integration capabilities it has, and in some cases a situation where the team that developed the application is no longer at the company, meaning current staff are encumbered with old, unruly technology.
By migrating—or porting—the application onto a low-code platform, users can continue using the software with all the added benefits that a modern low-code system offers, such as improved automation capabilities, scalability, and remote use across devices for end users on the go.
How AI Fits Into Low-Code and Workflow Automation
Artificial intelligence is transforming how businesses approach low-code workflow automation. By embedding AI into low-code platforms, organizations can automate complex decisions, streamline repetitive tasks, and respond to changing conditions in real time—all without heavy coding requirements.
AI tools like predictive analytics, intelligent document processing, and conversational bots enhance workflows by making them smarter and more adaptive. These capabilities allow teams to build solutions that not only execute tasks but also learn and improve over time, driving greater efficiency and personalization.
As low-code platforms evolve, AI is becoming a core feature rather than an add-on. This synergy empowers both technical and non-technical users to create powerful, scalable workflows that deliver faster results and deeper insights—reshaping how work gets done across industries.
Wrapping Up on Low-Code Workflow Automation
Low-code workflow automation is something organizations find themselves approaching with more candor as they assess the capabilities of their existing applications and the effectiveness of their current working processes.
While other automation technologies, like RPA, offer plenty of room to maneuver in terms of automating simple, repetitive tasks, low-code offers greater opportunities to establish end-to-end automated workflows across all lines of business that can be deployed at scale.
Low-code also offers a substantial amount of flexibility, particularly with regard to app migration and improvement, as well as strong levels of oversight for data compliance purposes.
Watch Impact’s webinar, Why Your Tech Rollouts Fail (and What to Do About It), for lessons from our experts on successfully onboarding new technology.
