What Are Intelligent Apps? How AI‑Powered Apps Are Changing Business

Intelligent applications—sometimes called smart apps or AI-powered apps—are software applications that use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to deliver smarter, more personalized, and more adaptive experiences. They go beyond traditional apps by leveraging data analysis, predictive modeling, automation, and continuous learning to help users make better decisions and work more efficiently.

Unlike static apps, intelligent apps can adapt over time based on user behavior and data trends. They analyze context, make recommendations, automate repetitive tasks, and provide real-time insights—making them valuable for everything from sales tracking to healthcare to customer engagement.

Low-code vs. no-code.

In the world of intelligent apps, you’ll often hear the terms “low-code” and “no-code” used almost interchangeably, even though they may seem like different things. The phrase “no-code” is mainly used in marketing to appeal to non-professional developers. However, the term is misleading because “no-code” apps are really low-code apps. Even when you drag and drop app elements, there is still code running in the background. Users just don’t see it happening. 

Key features of intelligent apps

For an app to be truly "intelligent," it typically incorporates several key capabilities:

• Data-driven decision-making –Leverages analytics and machine learning to enable smarter actions and recommendations.
  
• Contextual awareness – Understands the user's environment and intent, delivering insights and actions that are both relevant and timely.
  
• Continuous learning – Adapts and evolves by analyzing user behavior, feedback, and historical data to consistently improve performance.
  
• Personalized experiences – Provides tailored recommendations, dashboards, and workflows designed to meet individual needs.
  
• Task automation – Streamlines repetitive or complex processes, freeing users to focus on more strategic and creative work.
• ‍Real-time analysis – Processes data instantly, enabling quicker, more informed decision-making and responses.

These features collectively empower intelligent apps to deliver exceptional user experiences while driving efficiency and innovation.

Why are intelligent apps important?

Intelligent apps make the process of business app creation, deployment, and maintenance quicker and easier. They allow organizations to go beyond charts and graphs with customized apps that deliver actionable business insights. Most importantly, they make it possible for individuals to use and create apps without knowing how to code.

For example, Domo worked with the Utah Jazz to create a custom seat-by-seat visualization of their home stadium. The app allows the organization to track key revenue, sales, and attendance metrics — and how different conditions affect those values — for each of the arena’s 19,000+ seats. With this intelligent app, anyone in the organization regardless of their data analytics ability can explore the data, gain insights, and make appropriate changes that will help increase ticket sales. And, because the app was built using Domo infrastructure, it already accounts for storage, security, governance, scaling, and distribution.

Why intelligent apps matter for business

Get more done, faster.

Speed up your app development process and accomplish more with less effort. With the right tools, you can build powerful applications in record time, giving your business a competitive edge. Empower your team to focus on innovation and problem-solving rather than getting bogged down by lengthy development cycles.

Save time with reusable components.

Why reinvent the wheel? Utilize pre-built, reusable components that streamline the app creation process. Keep commonly used app design elements, like buttons, menus, or forms, at your fingertips. Simply drag, drop, and customize—no coding knowledge required. This saves time, reduces errors, and ensures consistency across your apps.

Cut costs with cloud tools.

Eliminate the need for expensive hardware and storage by leveraging cloud-based development tools. Platforms like Domo allow you to create fully functional apps in days, not weeks, keeping your projects on time and on budget. Cloud tools also scale effortlessly, ensuring you only pay for what you need, when you need it.

Break down silos.

Foster a culture of collaboration by enabling everyone—not just IT—to build apps. No-code platforms empower employees across departments to solve their own workflow challenges and bring their ideas to life. This collaborative approach breaks down silos, improves communication, and drives better business outcomes.

Scale with ease.

Adapt quickly to changing business needs or customer demands. With flexible app development platforms, you can scale solutions seamlessly, ensuring your tools grow alongside your organization. This agility improves your ability to respond to market trends and enhances the customer experience by staying ahead of their expectations.

Track and optimize.

Monitor every step of your workflows to ensure processes run smoothly and efficiently. Built-in analytics tools let you track performance, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven improvements. Regular optimization keeps your apps running at peak performance, saving you time and resources in the long run.

Accelerate digital transformation.

Turn outdated paper-based processes into streamlined digital workflows almost instantly. Empower your team to create apps tailored to their specific needs, bypassing IT bottlenecks and enabling faster innovation. This accelerates your digital transformation, making your business more agile and competitive.

Create smarter workflows.

Make your apps work harder by integrating them with existing systems to trigger actions and share data automatically. Streamline operations and eliminate manual tasks by automating repetitive processes. Smarter workflows ensure your business stays efficient, connected, and ready to tackle whatever comes next.

How do intelligent apps work?

Intelligent apps present users with a visual environment for developing applications. Instead of lines of code, users see components that can be dragged and dropped into place, all operating in a user-friendly interface that helps them visualize the final product as they build. Intelligent apps use drag and drop modelers, pre-built connectors, and other smart services to power the process. 

What should I look for in an intelligent app tool?

The tool you choose to use to create intelligent apps makes all the difference. While it is important for those without extensive coding experience to be able to create apps, it is equally important that your intelligent app tool provides developers with app development tools for them to do more advanced creation.

Tools like Domo provide developers with the entire foundation they need to build apps faster. With all of your data in one place and built-in data governance and security, all of the elements that developers would normally need to put in place before they begin building are already taken care of. All that’s left to do is start creating your business app. 

How do businesses use intelligent apps?

There are infinite ways that a business could use intelligent apps for greater business intelligence and improved experiences. Here are a few examples: 

• Sales Scorecard App. Track your sales rep performance in real time, and help them visually see areas where they can improve. 
• Sales Commission Transparency App. Help your sales team understand how their commissions are paid so they can set more effective goals and have more informed personal planning. 
• Campaigns App. Create more effective campaigns by tracking efforts against performance goals. 
• Retail Store Performance App. Allow retailers to monitor every aspect of store operations from sales to inventory to man hours. 
• Franchise Performance App. Get up-to-date information on the status of each of your franchise locations. 
• Form Builder App. Streamline and improve the way your organization creates forms and questionnaires internally and externally.
• Inline Editing App. Allow users to update datasets without coding knowledge by simply editing lines of data. 
• Billing Review App. Help your team review customer invoices in one central location and make adjustments directly in the app. 
• Talent Management App. HR departments can track potential employees through the application, interview, and hiring process.
• Productivity Apps. Automate expense reporting, track projects in real time, and suggest workflow improvements.
• Financial Apps. Detect fraudulent activity, track spending, and give personalized budgeting advice.
• Healthcare Apps. Analyze patient history to offer preventative care suggestions or identify early signs of potential health risks.
  

How will intelligent apps evolve in the future?

With intelligent apps powered by tools like Domo, anyone and everyone in an organization will be able to create rich, data-driven experiences and make better business decisions. Intelligent apps won’t replace professional developers. Instead, they will drive developers toward higher productivity as they can deliver apps more quickly and easily. 

In the next several years, the majority of enterprises will adopt the use of intelligent apps into their everyday operations.

Intelligent apps allow both individuals with little or no coding experience, often called citizen developers, and professional developers alike to quickly build software applications. 

With intelligent apps, organizations can leverage business intelligence (BI) and data investments to drive data-informed action within people’s everyday workflows. Tools like Domo give you everything you need to start building an app whenever you want no matter your level of coding knowledge. Intelligent apps typically feature a drag and drop style interface that allows users to customize layouts and apply branding.

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