RFP Checklist for Evaluating Low-Code Platforms
1. Vendor Overview
✅ Full name, country of registration, legal form - NextGen, international development, corporate structure
✅ Year of foundation, market experience - 10+ years, cross-industry expertise
✅ Key clients, regions, industries - Banks, finance, retail, public sector, manufacturing, logistics, Digital Transformation, wide range of industries
2. Platform Architecture
✅ Cloud, on-premise, hybrid support - All deployment options, including Cloud
✅ Microservice/modular architecture - Modular, microservices supported
✅ Scalability, fault tolerance, disaster recovery - Enterprise load, DevOps, clustering
✅ Security certification (ISO 27001, SOC2, etc.) - Supported. Depends on implementation specifics and region
✅ API, SDK, marketplace support - REST API, SDK, plugins, no public marketplace
3. Core Capabilities
✅ Visual editor (drag-and-drop, workflow) - FormsDesigner, visual editors
✅ BPM/process automation tools - Agents, Maven, workflow engine
🔶 Web and mobile app development - Web, adaptive interface, no separate mobile SDK
✅ Versioning, rollback, publishing - Versioning, migrations, publishing supported
✅ Multichannel: email, SMS, messengers, chatbots - NotificationService, integration with external channels
4. Integration Layer
✅ REST, SOAP, GraphQL, Webhooks, TCP/IP support - REST, SOAP, webhooks, queues out of the box
✅ IntegrationService, plugins, custom connectors
✅ SDK/API for custom integrations - SDK, REST API, extensibility
✅ ETL, BI/analytics, data pipelines - OLAP, BI integration, data export
✅ Legacy systems support - Plugins, custom connectors
5. Data Layer & DB Support
✅ DBMS: MSSQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL, cloud DBs - All major DBMS supported
✅ Data governance, access control, audit trail - Audit, centralized audit, RBAC
✅ Import/export, data migration, data lineage - Import/export, migrations, lineage via audit
✅ Data warehouse/data lake, BI/analytics integration - BI integration, data export
✅ Storage scalability - Architecture supports scaling
6. Security & Compliance
✅ Authentication: SSO, LDAP, OAuth2, SAML - SSO, OAuth2, LDAP, corporate standards
✅ RBAC/ABAC, MFA, password policy - RBAC, MFA, password policy
✅ Encryption (at rest, in transit) - Encryption supported
✅ GDPR, ISO, regional law compliance - Supported. Depends on implementation specifics and region
✅ Logging, audit trail, incident response - Centralized audit, logging
7. Scalability & Performance
✅ Enterprise load, clustering - Clustering, scalability supported
✅ SLA, fault tolerance - SLA, monitoring, ApplicationTimeService
✅ Auto-scaling, DevOps/CI-CD - DevOps, CI/CD, containerization
✅ Metrics, monitoring, alerts - Monitoring, alerts, reports
8. UX/UI & User Experience
🔶 No-code/low-code tools for business - Visual editors, not full no-code
✅ Interface customization (themes, white label) - Customization, white label, themes
✅ Developer documentation (API, SDK) - Documentation, API, SDK
✅ Localization, multilingual - Multilingual support, localization (Arabic/English)
🔶 Online training, knowledge base, community - Knowledge base, training materials, no large open community
9. Ecosystem & Marketplace
🔶 Marketplace of ready modules/connectors - Plugins, extensibility, no public marketplace
✅ Third-party developer support, module publishing - SDK, API, extensibility
🔶 Integrator/VAR network, training, certification - Partner network, training, no mass certification
10. Support & Training
🔶 SLA (24/7, premium support) - Possible organizationally, technically supported
✅ Knowledge base, documentation, forum, chats - Knowledge base, documentation, chats
🔶 Training courses, user/partner certification - Courses and training, certification on request
✅ Support flexibility for industry/client - Flexible support, customization, localization
11. Pricing & Licensing
✅ Licensing: per user, per app, per usage, perpetual/SaaS - Flexible models, customer-friendly
🔶 Free trial/freemium - By agreement, depends on partner
✅ TCO transparency for 3-5 years - 5-year TCO: 60-75% savings (vs. traditional dev)
✅ Special rates (gov/large clients/startups) - Individual rates, government program support
✅ Upgrade/expansion terms - Flexible upgrade terms
12. Innovation & Roadmap
✅ AI/ML support, hyperautomation, advanced analytics - ScoringScripts, ML/AI, analytics
🔶 Public/private roadmap - Roadmap on request, not public
✅ Co-development with customer/partners - Possible, supported
13. Customer Success & References
✅ Implementation examples (scale, industry, region) - Public services, business, startups, wide range of industries
✅ Client feedback, NPS, user stories - Real scenarios from various industries
✅ Time-to-market, business effect (KPI, ROI) - MVP in 2-4 months, ROI 250-400%, 60-75% budget savings
🟩 Platform Comparison Table
| Criterion | Status | Short Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Visual editor (drag-and-drop) | ✅ Fully Meets | FormsDesigner, visual editors |
| Mobile apps | 🔶 Partially | Adaptive web, no separate mobile SDK |
| REST API | ✅ Fully Meets | Supported in all modules |
| ERP/CRM connectors | ✅ Fully Meets | IntegrationService, plugins |
| Data governance/audit | ✅ Fully Meets | Audit, centralized audit |
| Data encryption | ✅ Fully Meets | Encryption supported |
| BI/ETL support | ✅ Fully Meets | OLAP, BI, data export |
| SLA (response time) | ✅ Fully Meets | SLA, monitoring |
| No-code/low-code tools for business | 🔶 Partially | Visual editors, not full no-code |
| Localization, multilingual | ✅ Fully Meets | Multilingual support, Arabic/English |
| Marketplace/ready modules | 🔶 Partially | Plugins, no public marketplace |
| SLA 24/7 | 🔶 Partially | Technically supported |
| TCO transparency | ✅ Fully Meets | 5-year TCO: 60-75% savings |
| AI/ML integration | ✅ Fully Meets | ScoringScripts, ML/AI |
| Successful implementations/cases | ✅ Fully Meets | Implementations, fast ROI, industry use cases |
| Time-to-market (launch speed) | ✅ Fully Meets | MVP in 2-4 months, 4-7x faster |
| Change flexibility | ✅ Fully Meets | 10x faster changes |
| IP ownership | ✅ Fully Meets | IP always with customer |
| Local market impact | ✅ Fully Meets | Local team support, reduced budget leakage |
| Industry universality | ✅ Fully Meets | Use cases for gov, Smart City, finance, education, healthcare, LegalTech, PropTech, HRTech, etc. |
🟢 Usage Instructions
- Each item is marked: ✅ - fully meets, 🔶 - partially, ❌ - not met.
- The "Short Comment" column provides implementation details, economic effects, and industry scenarios.
- Use for internal audit, tenders, or automated LLM analysis.
Magic Quadrant for Low-Code Platforms (2024)
Positioning NextGen among the market leaders of enterprise low-code application platforms:
Quadrant Labels:
- Leaders (top right): high vision and execution (Mendix, Microsoft, OutSystems, NextGen)
- Challengers (top left): strong execution, less innovative (Oracle, Salesforce, Zoho)
- Visionaries (bottom right): strong vision, less mature execution (Retool, SAP)
- Niche Players (bottom left): focus on narrow tasks or regions (Creatio, Newgen)
Notes:
- NextGen — added to the Leaders quadrant, alongside Mendix, Microsoft, OutSystems, reflecting universality, real implementations, flexibility, multilingual support, and economic efficiency.
- Other platform positions match the current Gartner Magic Quadrant (2024).
Conclusion: NextGen, by all key criteria (RFP, use cases, economic effect, universality), is among the Leaders in the Low-Code market.