A founder explains how no-code and low-code tools let businesses shift between pure software and custom consulting. Client customization needs drive 80% of where you land on that spectrum, while your own technical capacity accounts for 20%.
Where should you be on the continuum of software and service? I've talked to a lot of people who talk about software as a service, and they believe basically this is a, I'm going to provide you with a static piece of software, you're going to pay me every month for it, and I'm going to get 93% margins because it's going to be the cost of hosting. And there's another end of it, right, which is I'm doing bespoke consulting, and I may be making some technology, but largely it's I'm helping you with a particular problem that you have. And these two things represent ends of a spectrum. And the world of no-code, low-code allows us to move more liquidly up and down that spectrum. And the question of where you should be on that spectrum is going to be a function of your own technical capacity, about 20% of the value is there, but 80% is going to be what your clients need. The more bespoke their requirements, the more they feel it needs to be tailored just for them, the more custom you want to be, there's a service component and less or more software.
