An Empirical Study on Low-Code Platforms for Business Process Automation in Hybrid Cloud Environments

This article presents an empirical evaluation of low-code platforms for business process automation in hybrid cloud environments. Four prominent platforms were assessed across deployment flexibility, integration capabilities, security features, usability, and performance metrics using a healthcare prior authorization workflow as a standardized test case. The architectural analysis revealed distinct approaches ranging from unified architectures with multi-level caching to cloud-native microservices, each with unique integration and security capabilities. Implementation metrics demonstrated significant variations in development effort and deployment complexity, while performance testing highlighted differences in transaction processing speed, scalability characteristics, and resource utilization. The discussion identifies contextual factors influencing platform selection, including industry vertical considerations, organizational capability factors, and process complexity requirements. A structured decision framework guides organizations in selecting appropriate platforms based on regulatory requirements, legacy integration needs, time-to-market priorities, process complexity, and hybrid topology requirements. The results establish that no single platform offers a universal solution for all hybrid cloud scenarios.