If your company struggles to find software solutions tailor-made for its business needs, you are probably considering investing in custom developed applications. However, classic custom development is often costly as it requires a team of highly skilled developers. To speed up the process of developing custom applications and make them less expensive, Zoho launched Zoho Creator, a low-code platform for building custom applications.
You can choose things you need and like, design, develop and run your new business software with little or no coding. Businesses can create apps based on their ideas. The main benefits include reduced costs and complexity for your IT needs. The custom apps you make can integrate over 550 third-party and Zoho applications.
Creating custom workflows is an essential function of any decent software solution used for optimizing business processes. Zoho Creator can add automated actions like assigning tasks, emails, or other actionable options. The Creator platform also comes with deep business intelligence and analytics features. You can create highly customizable reports and interactive visualizations that will enable you to make data-driven decisions.
Building tools on a low-code platform
Instead of using many different solutions, Zoho Creator can be used to resolve various issues within its low-code platform.
You can also build, deploy and manage desktop applications on the platform that works seamlessly on mobile devices.
Create a custom applications
Zoho Creator allows you to make custom applications and that helps you avoid problems with off-the-shelf software. Instead of complex customization and poor data quality, you can pick and choose features you like and create your solution. Fast implementation, automation, and quality data handling are some of the top benefits.
Available on mobile platforms
The custom software created in Zoho Creator is automatically available on iOS and Android platforms. You can personalize the mobile app and publish them on mobile stores. You can integrate other Zoho and third-party apps, implement gesture control, use QR or Barcode scanning, and other valuable features.
Self-service portals and no-code AI
You can create an online self-service portal. The goal is to give clients access to your company’s product, service, or other information. The client portal will enhance collaboration, speed up workflow, and reduce countless emails and calls.
One of the more advanced options for your apps is AI integration with features like prediction, sentiment analysis, quality OCR feature and smart keyword extraction.
Business app personalization
Branding is essential in business, and starting with your custom app is necessary. Zoho Creator has several personalization levels. You can create a personalized look with over 200 configurable templates for different form factors and forms that align with your brand. Configurable components can have unique features on different platforms. You can set up more than 80 specific mobile phone and tablet controls when designing your custom mobile app.
Creator also has localization options with smart translation. Customize auto-translation options, or create a right-to-left layout setting.
Multiple branding customization features are available in Zoho Creator. You can rebrand the app with your brand identity on all platforms. You can use your own domain for web access and even completely white-label the apps you create. White-labeling is especially useful if you are planning to resell any of your apps built with Zoho Creator.
Automate processes with Zoho Creator
We have already touched on process automation. Let’s look at how Zoho Creator can be used to create them. The solution has a visual showcase of company processes in a process blueprint. You can map the workflow and create automations, conditions and access rights related to each step.
Map out your business processes, establish responsibilities, and add actionable tasks for each workflow step. The blueprint can be set up to guide your team members to add notes, documents, and other data within their roles as they progress through the process. Automated workflow can speed up approvals and improve communication with timely and relevant notifications. Team members will always know what to do without delays which can significantly reduce the need for micromanagement or, ideally, remove it altogether. Blueprints are agnostic to the type of process meaning that you can digitize almost any kind of business process.
High-level security
Security is fundamental in business software. Zoho Creator uses multi-level enterprise-grade security features to ensure your custom app safety.
For example, you will get end-to-end encryption for all data, and you can create multi factor authentication for secure access. In addition, data is stored in secured locations and compliant with current privacy laws.
One-click deployment
Low-code Zoho Creator solution allows you to create apps for various platforms. One of the most convenient features is the one-click mobile app deployment. You can publish a custom mobile app on Google Play and App Store.
A custom app can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. You can have control of the application without worrying about infrastructure. Uninterrupted service and high-level security are part of all Zoho Creator apps and online self-service portals.
Each developed app is a PWA which acts as a hybrid solution of advanced web pages and a native mobile app.
Business Analytics
Zoho Creator is known for numerous visual data representations. You can have performance indicators, interactive charts, tables, and other analytical options. A central place for all data insights is the dashboard. You can draw data from your apps and have an in-depth view of your business in real-time.
Among key dashboard features, you can have charts, reports, and data like a number of projects, clients, and profits. There are numerous templates for your dashboard view, and you can share all the data with your team. Zoho Creator allows you to customize your dashboard and add elements, but even without adding custom code, you can have more than 40 types of reports.
App integrations
Zoho Creator offers easy integration with other Zoho and third-party apps. You can insert prebuilt connections into business workflow templates. You can integrate more than 45 Zoho products and over 500 third-party solutions.
Creator has plug and play integration design which allows you to quickly build different types of integrations. For example, you can bridge data with on-premise or cloud support, and all apps and databases go through one API builder.
Bottom line
Zoho Creator is a low-code app building platform that tackles the common issue of off-the-shelf software not being ideal for a company. The solution allows you to build custom applications that will utilize only those features you actually need and follow your unique workflow.
If you don’t need an on-premise or cloud app, Creator has self-service portals. All apps made in Creator have mobile support for iOS and Android.
You don’t have to worry about infrastructure or coding, and you can get customizable solutions tailor made for your company. Process automation structure and top-notch security are strong points of the platform. You can build a robust analytical feature in your customizable dashboard, and Zoho Creator allows you to seamlessly integrate over 45 Zoho products or more than 500 third-party applications.