A must-see for low-code channels. What is the difference between development and implementation?

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If we need to find one of the most concerned IT technologies in the post-epidemic era, low code will definitely be among the top three. Low-code technology greatly improves the efficiency of software development through visualization, and greatly reduces the technical threshold.

However, business analysis, data planning, and other links still have high technical requirements, and the developer group that uses low-code to build enterprise-level applications is still dominated by IT technicians. According to the "2021 China Low-Code and No-Code Market Research Report" released by Haibi Research, in 2020, China's low-code user groups will account for 75% of R&D personnel. Most of these R&D personnel serve software companies. As low-code distributors, these software companies use development platforms and technologies provided by low-code vendors to complete software delivery for enterprise customers.

(R&D technicians account for 75% of low-code platform users)

Low-code vendors have different product positioning, channel vendors' capabilities and characteristics, and the relationship between channel vendors and vendors are also different. We can simply categorize it into "development type" and "implementation type". If you are interested in low-code, the difference between these two modes cannot be ignored.

The development type refers to the channel business using the tools provided by the manufacturer to customize the software system for enterprise customers. In this process, customer resources are in the hands of channel vendors, and the final software project delivered will dilute the vendor’s traces, and even OEM the vendor’s products into its own solutions in order to highlight the channel vendors’ contributions. Because development-oriented channel providers have more initiative, they can provide customers with more customized products to maximize their own profits.

In the "2021 Low Code Industry Research Report" released by iResearch, the business model of development-oriented channel providers is named "front-end and back-end development platform". Under this model, the value that low-code vendors bring to channel vendors is focused on "technical empowerment", which means that the technical threshold for front-end and back-end development is greatly reduced, and the dependence on high-level R&D personnel is reduced; at the same time, the development efficiency is improved, from the unit price of personnel and Start with two aspects of total working hours to reduce the cost of software development in an all-round way. Taking the movable type enterprise-level low-code development platform as an example, compared with traditional coding development, distributors can generally reduce development costs by 70% to 80%.

(Low-code business model-front-end and back-end development platform)

Implementation-oriented channel vendors are equivalent to vendors’ agents and implementation teams, completing platform delivery and project implementation for corporate customers who purchase vendors’ low-code development platforms. In this mode, customers have a higher degree of recognition of the manufacturer's brand. In contrast, customers have weaker brand awareness and loyalty to distributors. In order to strengthen the uniformity of platform brands, manufacturers under this model usually control the degree of customization of products to standardize the implementation effects of channel vendors. Therefore, channel providers provide fewer customized services for corporate customers, and differentiation is difficult to reflect, and the benefits are therefore limited. IResearch summarizes this model as "direct facing enterprise customers/indirect facing enterprise customers".

(Low-code business model-directly facing enterprise customers)

In the implementation mode, manufacturers are more "stronger" than channel vendors, but they can provide brand endorsements and business opportunities for small channel vendors. Under normal circumstances, manufacturers who have transformed from Internet manufacturers are more inclined to choose this model. With their own customer resources and financial strength, they can attract more channel providers to achieve rapid expansion of product user groups. For example, Alibaba's Dingding Yidah and Tritium Cloud are all supporters of this model, and thousands of small channel merchants have gathered around them. However, this mode is usually only suitable for form-driven low-code development platforms and no-code platforms with lower flexibility and technical barriers, and the breadth and depth of application scenarios are obviously limited.

Comprehensively comparing the two models, it is not difficult to see the difference between the two channel business models. If you want to independently explore customer needs and provide customers with differentiated information services, "development type" is more suitable; and if you need to do a "short, flat and fast" business, becoming a channel agent of an Internet company is also a low threshold Direction.

(Development vs. implementation low-code channel providers)

Determined to become a low-code technology provider, you who take advantage of low-code technology, while evaluating products from a technical point of view, don’t forget to review the cooperation models recommended by the manufacturers, find the right way for you, and start your Low code tour!