Transforming Concepts into Results
For enterprises aiming to:
- Enhance customer engagement and experiences.
- Boost collaboration and efficiency.
- Transition to cloud-based operations.
- Future-proof business processes
However, the requirement for these applications surpasses IT capacities for delivery. Resources are constrained, and antiquated delivery methodologies impede progress.
While the rationale for augmenting application velocity is evident, the methodology remains less clear. It appears that numerous barriers obstruct the route toward improved software development.
The obstacles encountered in enterprise application development.
Outdated Systems and Applications
Outmoded systems pose challenges in upkeep and lack compatibility with modern technologies and evolving business processes, leading to increased expenses and technical debt.
Shortage of Skills and Resources
A deficit in developers has rendered it challenging to recruit and retain skilled professionals. Insufficient resources hinder enterprises from delivering applications promptly enough to maintain competitiveness.
Difficulties in Embracing Agile
While Agile methodologies promise enhanced visibility in the application development cycle, adhering to conventional approaches results in production delays, subpar app quality, and increased expenses.
Communication Disparities Between Business and IT
Effective communication plays a crucial role in app development, yet compartmentalized departments and evolving demands frequently lead to applications that fail to meet expectations.
Accelerating App Development with Low-Code
Low code boosts a 90% acceleration in comparison to traditional development methods, offering enterprises a smoother pathway to craft transformative applications.
Low-code development integrates automation and simplification to streamline the development procedures, catering to users of varying skill levels. It also provides adept developers with increased opportunities for innovating enterprise-wide solutions.
A Low-Code Application Platform (LCAP) Empowers Enterprises To:
- Enhance developer productivity by utilizing visual user interfaces, reusable components, platform extensibility, and workflow editors.
- Ensure app quality and uniformity through automated testing.
- Create and deliver seamless user experiences across mobile, desktop, and tablet devices
- Construct maintainable solutions, easily scalable through cloud-native architecture.
- Adopt an Agile working approach and foster a DevOps culture.
Commence Developing Enterprise Applications Using Mendix
Mendix aids IT in surmounting resource and system obstacles, expediting every phase of the application development lifecycle. It boasts a range of features and capabilities, including:
Quick Application Development
Our platform employs visual, model-driven development environments coupled with Agile methodologies to expedite the app development lifecycle. Furthermore, we offer readily available DevOps tools and services, either straight out of the box or entirely automated within our platform.
Flexibility and Expandability
Mendix offers openness and expansiveness through reusable components, allowing seamless integration of custom code whenever required. The platform's APIs facilitate effortless connection of various systems, enabling the incorporation of data and logic from diverse sources or services.
Safety Measures and Administration
Mendix provides robust low-code governance safeguards and controls that are highly trusted. Employ our integrated tools to ensure the secure, compliant, and efficient utilization of the platform, or alternatively, establish your own governance framework.
Natively Cloud-based
By default, Mendix applications are containerized, portable, and inherently resilient. With a single click, deploy these applications effortlessly across public, private, or hybrid clouds, as well as on-premises systems.
Incorporated Collaboration Features
Mendix includes integrated tools for feedback and project management, facilitating streamlined communication across departments.
Mendix Market Hub
Enhance development efficiency by utilizing our repository of reusable elements. Our Market Hub showcases pre-designed widgets, templates, and modules developed by Mendix, our associates, and our user community.
AGILE DEVELOPMENT:
Embrace Agile Practices through Low-Code Development with Mendix for Optimal Results
Conventional development methods hinder adaptability.
For contemporary enterprises seeking agility and swiftness, the inflexible nature of waterfall development poses challenges:
- Business and IT operate independently.
- Insufficient communication results in inadequate planning, delays, and subpar solutions.
- IT faces a backlog and struggles to provide the solutions required by the business quickly enough.
- Transitioning to a new operational approach is challenging due to legacy systems and a shortage of skills.
Low code facilitates the shift toward Agile methodology.
Efficient communication, increased productivity, and accelerated development are undeniable benefits of Agile methodology. However, adopting these practices may pose a cultural challenge for some organizations.
Low code, as a visual development approach, smoothens the transition by emphasizing essential Agile principles such as:
- Transparent workflows
- Continuous communication
- Extensive collaboration
- Rapid adaptability
How to shift towards Agile low-code development
Offering the methodology and the framework for rapid and scalable app development, low code enables organizations to adopt Agile methodologies according to their preferences and timeline.
Gradual process
A full shift to Agile methods doesn’t occur instantly, especially when working with legacy systems.
Using low-code, you can initiate a low-risk project to assess the process. Low code facilitates swift and simple testing and implementation of alterations without impacting the entire legacy system.
Blended methodology
A hybrid strategy integrates both waterfall and Agile methodologies in a manner tailored to the organization's requirements.
One approach might involve adopting waterfall methods for planning and design phases, while utilizing Agile principles for development and testing through brief, focused sprints. Alternatively, instead of daily Agile stand-up meetings, a bi-weekly utilization of a Kanban board could be considered.
Complete Transition
Once your organization is prepared to embrace Agile methodologies entirely, low code offers the scalability and adaptability required to facilitate this transition.
Following the implementation of a gradual or hybrid approach, you will have established the foundational elements necessary for the successful adoption of Agile practices.
Mendix Embraces Agile Principles
The Mendix low-code Platform is designed to resonate with the fundamental tenets of the Agile Manifesto. Fostering collaboration between business and IT, it enables swift, superior-quality app development, ensuring businesses remain highly adaptive to evolving requirements and user expectations.
Overcome Business-IT Communication Hurdles
Leveraging Mendix’s integrated collaboration tools facilitates seamless team communication and real-time project tracking. Preview and distribute apps, gather feedback using polls, and promote ongoing input and swift updates.
Mendix’s visual development environments contribute to improved collaboration between business and IT. Through a unified visual language, developers of varying expertise levels can expedite delivery, enabling stakeholders to witness their requirements materialize instantly.
Leverage Integrated Agile Resources
Mendix embeds Agile methodologies within its platform, simplifying the transition for teams at any expertise level. Tailored project management utilities cater to diverse developers across the application lifecycle — from conceptualization and requirement capture to development, testing, and deployment.
Functioning as an open and adaptable platform, Mendix seamlessly integrates with your present toolkit and third-party resources. Employ APIs to connect with legacy systems, CI/CD pipelines, and testing automation suites, or introduce custom coding as necessary.
Ensure Legacy Systems Adapt to Agility
Refuse to let legacy systems impede progress. Irrespective of your position in the journey toward modernizing legacy systems, Mendix equips you with the essential tools to extend, migrate, or substitute legacy applications, fully optimizing agility.
Maintain Genuine Agility through Cloud-Native Applications
In an environment where project demands and necessities are in constant flux, Mendix ensures your responsiveness. Facilitate swifter delivery of solutions by enabling one-click deployment to various cloud or on-premises settings. Implement, refine, and iterate on your applications using integrated tools supporting continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD).
COMPOSABILITY:
Design applications to ensure adaptability in real-time and resilience for future challenges in your business architecture.
Revamp your enterprise for accelerated digitalization.
The demands of customers, markets, and businesses evolve constantly. However, numerous enterprises lack the necessary business mindset, technology, or procedures to adapt swiftly.
This is why numerous leading enterprises across industries are transitioning to a composable approach. Composable software development concentrates on a broadly accessible, modular architecture, enabling quicker and easier construction, modification, and expansion of applications.
Mendix's cutting-edge low-code platform, flourishing digital ecosystem, and composable methodology equip you adeptly to tackle the intricate demands of digital transformation.
What defines a composable enterprise?
“Composability” signifies both a business and IT approach. According to Gartner, a composable business is an entity constructed from interchangeable elements.
In practical terms for software development, this means leveraging pre-existing, reusable components, making the delivery of solutions quicker and more efficient rather than creating everything from the ground up.
Compose, adapt, recycle, iterate!
Enhance delivery speed through the creation of adaptable, flexible applications.
Empower proficient developers to construct tailored components, granting them unlimited liberty to expand functionalities on our flexible and open platform.
Subsequently, business technologists can effortlessly craft applications using these components or opt for the pre-made, customizable solutions available in the Mendix Marketplace.
Utilize our repository.
Create and adjust solutions using pre-established, reusable elements accessible in the Mendix Marketplace.
Mitigate Risks
Employ integrated enterprise governance tools to oversee component, application, and platform security on a global scale.
Accelerate Delivery
Develop applications up to 10 times faster while using 70% fewer resources through the utilization of our pre-established, reusable components.
Expand Boundlessly
Customize elements and enhance application functionalities on our flexible and expansive platform.
LIFE CYCLE:
The Application Development Lifecycle with Low-Code
Develop, launch, and sustain top-notch applications using low-code technology.
A clearly outlined process forms the backbone of exceptional applications. The low-code application development lifecycle encompasses five distinct stages: Ideation, Development, Testing, Deployment, and Operations.
Mendix's low-code Platform offers robust support across these phases by simplifying and automating many complexities found in conventional development.
- Visual development environment
- Drag-and-drop modules.
- Communication channels
- Feedback loops
- One-click deployment
- Automated testing services
Employing Mendix's collaborative and visual approach allows businesses to tap into their existing workforce, irrespective of their development expertise. This approach accelerates the time to market, ensuring the delivery of user-friendly apps while reducing overall development expenses.
The low-code application development lifecycle consists of five stages.
Whether you're constructing a portal embedded with workflows and numerous integrations or developing a native mobile application, Mendix equips teams with the essential tools, assistance, and services necessary for each phase of the application development journey. Moreover, Mendix remains open and adaptable across all levels, allowing seamless integration with your existing technology stack as needed.
Stage 1: Ideation
During the initial phase, teams delineate the purpose and objectives of the new application, assess user expectations, and foster a shared comprehension of all prerequisites. Tasks also involve collecting requirements, estimating expenses, and assigning resources.
Maintaining alignment between IT, business units, and stakeholders regarding goals and requirements is pivotal across the application development continuum. Low-code's emphasis on robust collaboration facilitates the breakdown of silos, ensuring everyone remains interconnected.
How ideation with Mendix is structured:
The Mendix Developer Portal serves as a centralized collaborative platform for teams. It encompasses features such as chat and social tools, user feedback management, backlog organization, and DevOps utilities.
Integration with external tools like Trello and Jira is facilitated through APIs.
Grounded in Agile principles, the Mendix Platform encourages continuous collaboration, fostering transparent communication for expeditious development.
Stage 2: Development
Upon finalizing requirements and strategizing, app development commences. Low code presents a visual, collaborative approach to development, allowing diverse skill sets to participate in app building. This boosts developer efficiency, hastens deployment, fosters versatile teams, and facilitates involvement of non-technical stakeholders and users across the application lifecycle.
The developmental process with Mendix:
Mendix maintains seamless collaboration between business and IT developers. Multiple developers can concurrently contribute to the same project, leveraging Mendix's robust version control capabilities without encountering obstacles.
Integration with external tools like Trello and Jira is facilitated through APIs.
Mendix Assist, an AI-driven bot, offers real-time guidance for configuring logic and evaluates app performance against industry best practices.
Mendix promotes the development and reuse of various application components such as UI, logic, and data. Additionally, the Mendix Marketplace houses app templates, app services, widgets, and more, ensuring a broad array of resources for developers.
Stage 3: Testing
This stage involves meticulous quality assurance and testing processes to ensure the app's alignment with business needs and user expectations.
Mendix streamlines the testing phase by addressing common challenges such as resource scarcity, limited test coverage, and manual testing errors, enabling teams to deliver superior-quality apps that surpass anticipated standards.
- Utilizing standardized, pre-validated components for all Mendix-built applications.
- Integration capabilities with external testing tools and services via APIs.
- Automated testing, integrity checks, and quality assurance facilitated by the Mendix Application Quality Monitor (AQM).
- Support for Selenium and JUnit testing frameworks to enhance the testing environment
Testing methodologies with Mendix include:
Stage 4: Deployment
This phase marks the delivery of your application to end users. Low-code methodologies expedite the delivery process to users and simplify cloud operations. Mendix facilitates the deployment of cloud-native applications to the cloud platform of your preference.
Containerization, a fundamental aspect of low-code development, involves bundling an application and its environment for deployment. This practice guarantees consistent and reliable app performance across diverse environments. Moreover, containerization enhances app resilience and ease of management, resulting in reduced total cost of ownership (TCO).
The deployment process with Mendix involves:
- Default containerization and cloud-native nature of Mendix-developed applications.
- Seamless one-click deployment to various environments: public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, or on-premises systems.
- Ensuring maximal uptime and scalability without necessitating extensive redesign.
- Support for contemporary cloud platforms such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Cloud Foundry.
Mendix Empowers Agile and DevOps Teams
Mendix maintains seamless collaboration between business and IT developers. Multiple developers can concurrently contribute to the same project, leveraging Mendix's robust version control capabilities without encountering obstacles.
From streamlined one-click deployment to integrated monitoring, Mendix aids DevOps teams in working more iteratively and independently across the application development lifecycle. The Mendix Platform comes equipped with standard DevOps tools and services that are either readily available or entirely automated. It encompasses continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), testing, and monitoring functionalities, accompanied by accessible APIs for seamless integration of your Mendix application with existing DevOps toolsets.
COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT:
Overcoming Collaboration Obstacles:
For enterprise development teams aiming to accelerate app building and deployment, the essential factor lies in establishing sustainable, effective collaboration between business and IT. However, achieving this synergy is frequently more challenging than articulating its importance. Enterprises operating with fragmented development approaches encounter substantial obstacles hindering successful app development
Drive Innovation through Collaborative Low-Code Development
Utilizing collaborative tools and methodologies within low-code development platforms empowers enterprise teams to:
Enhance team interactions by engaging stakeholders at each phase of the application development process.
Expeditiously reach the market by minimizing revisions, enhancing communication, and amplifying feedback loops.
Foster an environment for innovation by removing resource constraints and inspiring teams to conceive and implement novel concepts.
Boost adoption rates by engaging end-users throughout the entire process, actively listening to, and integrating their feedback at more frequent intervals.
The Mendix Collaboration Suite offers integrated digital collaboration tools that assist diverse teams in strategizing, overseeing, and collectively developing applications aligned with the business requirements.
Manage Your Portfolio Effectively
Utilize Mendix's integrated Portfolio Management Tool to identify and oversee the scope, effort estimation, and value assessment of digital projects.
Epics:
A user-friendly, agile project management solution that seamlessly integrates with SP, enabling real-time updates to stories.
Application Insights:
Gather fresh ideas for enhancing solutions through polls and enhance your application quality by actively receiving both active and passive user feedback.
Version control:
Utilize version control to seamlessly merge multiple teams' efforts into a unified revision automatically!
How Mendix Facilitates Collaborative Development
Establishing the norm of deploying accurate applications on the first attempt. We've revolutionized the application creation process for organizations by optimizing stakeholder communication.
Select Your Tools
Utilize Epics and Feedback Management to empower teams in choosing the most suitable Mendix tools for enhancing collaboration, leading to potential savings on additional technology licenses.
Extend Beyond Application Development
Mendix fosters collaboration not only during the development phase but also throughout maintenance and upgrades, ensuring your applications remain relevant and valuable while enabling your team to sustainably operate.
Constantly Enhance
Engage with end users by converting their feedback into fresh user stories. Seamlessly integrate new tasks and change requests as required, and gauge engagement levels to optimize each application.
MODEL DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
Accelerate software development using the most extensive low-code platform available.
What does model-driven development entail?
Model-driven development forms the core principle of low-code development.
The Mendix low-code Platform functions as a model-driven Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that abstracts the technical complexities involved in constructing an application—such as logic, data model, user interface—and showcases them as visual drag-and-drop components.
Whether you possess professional development skills or are new to this field, model-driven development enhances team productivity, fostering better software quality and easier maintainability.
Design advanced web and mobile applications effortlessly using Mendix's visual Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Enhance your applications through intuitive drag-and-drop features. With Mendix's model-driven development approach, developers of varying skill levels can efficiently design, construct, and expedite app delivery using visual models and user-friendly development tools.
Mendix utilizes five fundamental domain-specific languages in constructing its models.
Domain ModelingUtilize a visual UML-based data modeler to establish entities, attributes, and associations that accurately represent your data structures within the domain model.
User Interface ModelingBuild responsive web and mobile user interfaces comprehensively utilizing a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) graphical page editor.
Microflows and Nanoflows Create client-side logic (nanoflows) and server-side logic (microflows) visually to accommodate online and offline scenarios.
Security MeasuresDevelop reusable security protocols across various layers—data, logic, page, and API—using Mendix's multi-layered security language!
Workflow DevelopmentUtilize an integrated language to create workflows that leverage and reutilize various model components, such as microflows or pages.
Mendix is designed to facilitate collaborative development driven by models.
Create exceptional applications with Mendix, bringing developers of diverse skill levels together to encourage transparent communication and collaboration. Teams can instantly exchange ideas and feedback through integrated social channels and feedback management tools. All levels of developers actively engage in the development process, resulting in the successful delivery of high-quality applications from the onset.
Accelerate your development journey and facilitate immediate communication between developers and business stakeholders by speaking the same language. Collaboratively model data and bridge the gap between business and IT, making it significantly smaller!
Accelerate app delivery significantly!
- Utilizing Mendix expedites app development exponentially through its visual development language.
- Low-code model-driven development can be up to 90% faster compared to traditional programming methods.
- Equip yourself to develop and deliver apps promptly to meet your enterprise's pace using:
- Built-in drag-and-drop functionality.
- Reusable components
- Quality assurance checks
- One-click deployment capabilities
Mendix Empowers Agile and DevOps Teams
Mendix maintains seamless collaboration between business and IT developers. Multiple developers can concurrently contribute to the same project, leveraging Mendix's robust version control capabilities without encountering obstacles.
From streamlined one-click deployment to integrated monitoring, Mendix aids DevOps teams in working more iteratively and independently across the application development lifecycle. The Mendix Platform comes equipped with standard DevOps tools and services that are either readily available or entirely automated. It encompasses continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), testing, and monitoring functionalities, accompanied by accessible APIs for seamless integration of your Mendix application with existing DevOps toolsets.
RAPID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT:
Rapid application development (RAD)minimizes risks and shortens delivery timelines, enabling increased engagement with both customers and business users throughout software development. Explore the synergy between RAD and low code to expedite the launch of superior applications and products.
What constitutes Rapid Application Development?
The software development model of Rapid Application Development (RAD) prioritizes the User Design cycle, focusing on prototyping, testing, and continual refinement. In contrast to the planned and inflexible nature of the waterfall method, RAD is adaptable and promptly responds to user feedback. Despite its inception 30 years ago, the RAD software development model has experienced a revival due to the contemporary business imperative to deliver captivating user experiences across various devices, spanning from native mobile and web-based applications to conversational apps.
The RAD Life Cycle's Four Stages
As outlined by James Martin, a British IT consultant and author of the book "Rapid Application Development" in 1991, the RAD life cycle comprises four distinct stages:.
Planning Phase In the initial phase, business and IT stakeholders join forces to swiftly outline project scopes, emphasizing crucial objectives while retaining flexibility, especially within the prototyping phase of the User Design stage.
User-Centric Design Structured around iterative cycles of prototyping, testing, and refining, RAD prioritizes user design by promptly showcasing a functional model to users at an early and frequent cadence. This approach not only guides design choices and the evolution of product features but also serves as a reality check to assess the feasibility of your significant concept.
Building Phase In contemporary Rapid Application Development (RAD), the construct phase is enhanced through the utilization of low-code platforms, streamlining communication between business and IT. Within this phase, low-code platforms integrated with model-driven development (MDD) capabilities empower both developers and business users. While expert developers address complex challenges, the use of easily comprehensible visual models enables citizen developers to seamlessly contribute fresh ideas to the product's designs and functionalities.
Transition Phase The cutover phase condenses parallel stages found in the traditional Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), encompassing implementation, testing, integration, and maintenance processes.
What Benefits Does RAD Offer?
As per Mendix research, 71% of IT teams struggle to match the increasing demands of their organizations, with 96% acknowledging the impact on business when solutions are not delivered promptly. Familiar with the scenario of more projects and less time for completion? Here are several ways rapid development can help:
RAD Mitigates Risks
Employing short, agile sprints that iterate as frequently as necessary for the project, RAD adopts an iterative method that detects bugs and logic issues earlier in the SDLC, preventing potential disruptions in delivery.
RAD Enhances Quality
Central to the Rapid Application Development process is the integration of crucial feedback from business stakeholders and end-users. Utilizing user feedback is pivotal in refining and directing your significant concept to align with your business requirements and ensure customer satisfaction.
RAD Offers Increased Speed
Leveraging iterative releases and code reusability within a model-driven, low-code platform enables your team to dedicate less time to exhaustive processes and documentation. The outcome? You can deliver your solution punctually, effectively addressing the business requirements rather than falling short.
DESIGN THINKING:
Create User-Centric Applications through Design Thinking Enhance app quality for your users and business by embracing an iterative, user-centered approach to development.
What does design thinking entail?
Design thinking represents a business approach that dismantles biases and behavioral patterns hindering innovation. When implemented in application development, cross-functional teams employ empathy, collaboration, and experimentation to efficiently tackle intricate business issues in a user-centered manner.
The process of design thinking
To create effective apps, teams must acquire a profound comprehension of the targeted users, their actions, and what drives them. The structured design thinking process aims to assist teams in gathering invaluable user insights that can be transformed into inventive solutions.
Understand User Perspectives: Collect data to comprehend the thoughts and emotions of app users.
Clarify: Transform user data into well-defined insights.
Generate: Explore app concepts derived from user insights through brainstorming.
Prototype: Commence the construction and testing of your concepts.
Assess: Gather input on your prototypes and engage in iteration
Design Thinking through Mendix.
Transform concepts into results. Leveraging the Mendix low-code application development platform integrates design thinking methodologies, enabling the delivery of value to both users and businesses.
Swiftly Generate Ideas and Innovate
- Utilize the insights acquired in the empathy stage to brainstorm and refine innovative and impactful solutions for users' challenges through iteration.
- Enable subject matter experts to materialize their ideas swiftly by constructing functional prototypes within a visual, model-driven development setting.
- Easily compile and adjust screens using a diverse range of reusable UI components provided by the Mendix Atlas UI Framework.
- Preview applications during the development phase, facilitating collaboration between developers and end users to gather feedback and execute swift iterations.
Prioritize User Requirements
- Ensure user needs take precedence. Deliver applications that fulfill both user requirements and business goals. Mendix assists teams in maintaining a user-centric approach throughout the entire lifecycle of app design and development.
- Facilitate collaborative design thinking among developers, stakeholders, business teams, and users.
- Immediately share functional prototypes or MVPs with users to commence the collection and iteration process based on real-world feedback.
- Enhance insights through an integrated feedback loop within the development environment for continuous improvement.
Transition effortlessly from prototype to production!
Reduce time, effort, and resources through app prototyping and testing. Mendix empowers teams to develop functional prototypes that seamlessly transform into production-ready applications, eliminating the need for disposable mockups.
- Enhance prototypes by incorporating intricate logic and integrations using Mendix Studio Pro.
- Iteratively build applications using integrated tools for Agile project management (user stories, sprints, and backlogs).
- Swiftly deploy and scale applications by utilizing out-of-the-box high availability and failover features for web-scale operations.
Why MXTechies?
Build Applications 10X faster with 70% fewer resources.
Increase developer productivity and capacity.
Application for any channel, any device, online and offline, smart, and connected.
Easily embed automation into core systems.
Extend automation without limitation.
Integrate data and logic from any data source, system, or service.
Insights & Success Stories
