CHALLENGES OF LOW-CODE/NO-CODE PLATFORMS IN SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONAL INFORMATION PROCESSES: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND CASE STUDY EVIDENC

Abstract

Digital transformation increasingly positions business informatics at the core of organisational competitiveness, driving companies to digitalise and automate their business processes. In this context, low-code/no-code (LCNC) platforms have emerged as a promising solution within business information systems, enabling rapid development of process-oriented applications with minimal or no programming. By empowering employees without formal IT backgrounds to participate in system development, LCNC platforms address the shortage of IT professionals and help bridge the gap between technical and domain-specific business knowledge. Although vendors emphasise advantages such as ease of use, accelerated development cycles, reduced costs, lower IT dependency and enhanced process innovation, they often overlook the organisational, technological and governance challenges associated with LCNC adoption. This paper systematically identifies key inhibitors and LCNC implementation through a comprehensive literature review, followed by an assessment of their significance across multiple case studies with LCNC users. Seven major inhibitors are identified: vendor lock-in, security and compliance risks, integration challenges, limited scalability, insufficient documentation, limited testing support, and lack of flexibility. Case study findings indicate that lack of flexibility and customisation, vendor lock-in and insufficient testing support represent the most critical barriers. The paper presents preliminary insights from an ongoing investigation into LCNC development.