As previously mentioned, the world of CMS is being moved, and shaken in some subtle and not so subtle ways… one big positive (at least in my mind) such impact is the Low-Code/No-Code transformational movement 🚀.

So many tools, platforms, services exist in 2026 that can automate just about anything!

What makes these different from what existed before is that little to no programming understanding (especially if intelligently combined with a bit of AI to fill in the pseudo-programming or programming needs) is needed. (I’ll talk more about AI and its role with Low-Code/No-Code platforms in the last episode of this series).

It’s pretty amazing to consider that while the first concepts of Low-Code/No-Code started back in the late 80s (anyone remember HyperCard? 😀), it really didn’t hit mass market appeal and adoptions until the ~2020s and oh my! how far it has come in just about 5 years (Drag & Drop interfaces, automatic linking, automatic data detection, formatting etc).

I have been heavily creating automations for clients for 3-4 years now (especially in the last 18 months+) and recently saved a client 660+ hrs a year with just 22 automations (some simple ones with 2-3 steps and to a massive octopus-like behemoth juggling 958 steps and 150 variables).

Here is an excerpt of a Real-World Scenario:

"Imagine having a website where you offer training courses, and being able to automatically subscribe customers to the right mailing list depending on their purchase, letting them choose a few days later which additional services they might want by simply clicking a button in an email, having their training manual personalized and delivered as a PDF, having their name and contact information added automatically into the right Google Calendar so that you can contact your client with a last minute change of room on your phone, having the invoice populate automagically your accounting system and being notified on your own Mattermost installation of purchases, sign-ups, and more… and once the training course finished and them passing the course their certificate automatically filled in, signed and delivered which then imports them into your website’s certified instructor map and a new marketing automation sequence in your marketing automation platform…"

Now imagine having to do all of THAT and more manually 😭😱.

And that’s just a few of the myriad of workflows that you can achieve…

Being able to attach the ultra powerful and flexible world of Low-Code/No-Code to your favorite Joomla! CMS opens up hundreds and even thousands of software, SaaS solutions etc that do not (yet or would ever) have a native Joomla integration - and the ability to do so is just a few minutes to hours away! 🥰

While each major platform: n8n, Pabbly Connect, Make, Zapier, etc have their own interface and sets of applications that are already integrated, many support the ability to integrate even solutions that they have no built-in integrations for (thanks to web hooks and APIs) and while there is a small learning curve, it’s nothing like custom development.

In the world of Joomla!, since version 4, it has a very nice built-in Task Scheduler system with some pre-built capabilities, which can be extended to do more if you are a developer. There are real advantages to staying close to Joomla Core and extending what is built-in to Joomla! (and if you are a developer, I invite you to contribute to the Joomla Core development to bring even more capabilities to what can already be done with automation in Joomla.)

But for many of us who are not developers or who need to save time, connecting natively Joomla with n8n and Make and hopefully soon with the other major automation platforms (Zapier, Pabbly Connect and others) will open up a great many capabilities…

Let me be clear, while there are many great advantages to getting things done with Low-Code/No-Code, and I love the process of solving client needs this way and even the "WOW, how did you do THAT? reactions 😳", it’s not a perfect solution either.

Here are a few things that you need to consider before committing to Low-Code/No-Code for a project:

1. You are now dependent on an external platform that may change its policies and/or pricing at any time, they may decide to retire an integration at will…
2. The integration for Joomla or whatever 3rd party tool you are connecting with may not be updated as quickly as needed or as you would like and may break your workflows (i.e. you are reliant on a prompt updating of said solution).
3. You have to learn a new platform, way of doing things… and when they change their interface, you have to learn that new interface again…
4. There is an additional cost for these automation platforms - some quite reasonable even having Lifetime pricing (Pabbly Connect) but others get quite pricey quite quickly (Zapier)…
   (While n8n is a good option which has a free open source community edition, it requires a bit of knowledge to set it up: Server, Docker, and basic Linux commands so probably not ideal for a beginner).
   
   to name a few…

For myself, it’s hard to imagine going back to a time before Low-Code/No-Code platform automating so many things for my clients or myself… I invite you to connect with the great Joomla! Community on Mattermost and come and talk Automation ;)

As often is the case, it’s about analyzing the effort, risks and rewards.

———————

In the last episode in this series, we will look at the role of AI on the Joomla! Landscape…

AI which is both positive in many ways and frightening in others… can truly help you do more, faster - especially if used responsibly!

Looking forward to discussing that next month!