With the strong impetus of cloud computing and mobile Internet, the pace of digital transformation of enterprises is accelerating, and the demand for software application development is also showing explosive growth. Against this background, low-code platforms have risen rapidly due to their unique advantages and have attracted widespread attention from the industry.
Since 2020, the low-code field has become an investment hotspot. At least 20 companies have won the favor of capital in this field, and some of them have even successfully completed multiple rounds of financing in a row.
Not only that, Internet giants including Alibaba and Tencent, as well as companies such as UFIDA, which has a deep accumulation in the B2B service field, have also set foot in this market. They not only build low-code platforms independently, but also continue to expand their influence in this field through investment and acquisitions. Many companies in human resources, collaborative work, customer relationship management and other industries have also launched their own low-code platforms to better meet the market's urgent needs for fast and flexible application development tools.
Low-code is surging, and China's To B enterprise service companies are standing at the forefront of new industries.
From the perspective of commercialization, at present, Chinese low-code manufacturers mainly provide services to customers in two ways.
The first is that manufacturers use low-code tools to support products or solutions and provide services directly to enterprise customers. In this mode, low-code development is essentially a capability of manufacturers. Manufacturers use low-code instead of traditional code writing to reduce R&D costs and increase the speed of software product implementation and delivery.
The biggest advantage of this business model is that it can directly solve the needs of customers for specific application scenarios, but there are also major limitations: low-code vendors essentially act as enterprise software outsourcers, but only realize the way of software development and delivery. From writing code to low code. In addition, due to the different needs of different companies, it is difficult for a manufacturer to develop and deliver specific software applications for a certain customer to be reused by other companies, and it is difficult to achieve large-scale implementation.
More and more low-code vendors are beginning to try the second commercialization model—the platform-based development path. In this mode, low-code manufacturers emphasize their own platform attributes, and build their own ecosystems by recruiting partners. In terms of product delivery, manufacturers can deliver directly to customers with development needs, or through partners such as third-party developers.
The advantages of a platform-based business model are obvious. First of all, platform products have strong versatility, and users can build various applications on demand based on the platform. For manufacturers, because the platform is not bound to specific needs, it is easier to achieve large-scale replication between enterprises.
Secondly, platform-based low-code manufacturers cooperate with partners such as ISVs and third-party developers to create an ecological platform, which can lay the foundation for exploring more flexible business models. For example, low-code vendors may not directly face customers, but provide templates, plug-ins, and expansion capabilities through the platform, authorize partners to deliver, and collect authorization fees from them. The business model is lighter.
From the early low-code start-up companies creating a series of software development tool reuse products to the giants entering the market and launching low-code platforms, the low-code industry has ushered in an important turning stage - more and more low-code manufacturers have settled in With the aggregation platform of Internet giants, open capabilities and cooperate with each other to form an ecosystem centered on the aggregation platform and surrounded by low-code manufacturers.
As the number of manufacturers on the platform increases, the aggregation platform will take on more responsibilities such as manufacturer quality control, product delivery service provision, and account system management, helping manufacturers break through data silos and optimize user experience.
The rapid construction of low-code platforms and ecosystems has further stimulated the potential of low-code enterprise applications. The emergence of the aggregation platform also opens up new paths for manufacturers to cooperate. Joining the aggregation ecosystem allows manufacturers to obtain platform traffic support and the underlying interface for application development. After accumulating sufficient templates and applications, the aggregation platform can provide users with personalized recommendations through customer portraits and algorithms, and at the same time play a role in inclusiveness, so that users in different positions and abilities can participate in the digital construction of enterprises.
From empowering IT personnel to business users, from simple applications to complex applications, the space for low-code will be even wider.