Last year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, three Germans, backed by a financial grant from Berlin University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, started up an online jobs marketplace. Called FiveTeams, it allows managers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to post résumés, specify criteria, and evaluate job offers from companies, but remain completely anonymous until they agree to an interview.

More novel than FiveTeams’ business model, though, is the way the platform was created. The entrepreneurial troika developed FiveTeams without employing an army of software programmers and developers—relying instead on no-code/low-code (NC/LC) platforms and tools. These platforms translate the fundamentals of code into graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and menus, allowing people to build A.I. applications by using a visual approach. FiveTeams used Webflow, a visual editor platform, to create its website; Algolia, a software-as-a-service engine, for the critical search function; Twilio for API-based messaging; and Stripe for payment processing.

NC/LC platforms may be helping business make A.I. accessible to more people—democratizing A.I., so to speak. They’re also multiplying business’s A.I. capabilities by giving employees, especially those that aren’t technically qualified, the power to develop A.I. solutions and applications. They’ve come in handy at a time when there’s an acute scarcity of digital talent worldwide. Moreover, not only can companies develop algorithms faster with NC/LC platforms, but they can do so at lower costs.