Google's online tool for building business apps becomes available
What's the story
Google has announced that its low-code tool for building business apps called "App Maker" is now available to use for all G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Education customers. So far, the online tool, which was launched in November 2016, was in a private preview beta mode under an Early Adopter Program. It helps developers quickly build and deploy business apps on the web.
Motive
Build apps and monitor them through Google Analytics
The main idea behind App Maker is to help any professional build their own custom business apps, even if they know little to no coding. To achieve this, the low-code tool provides users with a straightforward drag-and-drop app development environment. It also makes designing apps easy with a set of responsive templates that are optimized for both smartphone and desktop.
Details
App Maker focuses mostly on Google's own services
App Maker offers built-in support for Google's Cloud SQL database. Users can build their own line-of-business apps based on data already stored in G Suite and access Gmail, Google Calendar, and Sheets as data sources for their apps as well. In fact, App Maker offers access to 40 Google services in total. Currently, App Maker doesn't offer built-in connectivity with third-party services.
Vision
Speed up workflows and improve processes
Google thinks that IT executives are not paying as much attention to app development as they are to security and governance. It wants teams in offices to use App Maker to build custom apps for functionalities like requesting purchase orders, filing help desk tickets and tracking allocation requests—basic tasks that help a business achieve high performance, scalability and convenience.