Move over full-code communications-as-a-service (CPaaS) platforms, low-code options are the preference today among companies using multiple approaches, according to Metrigy’s recently published Advanced API & CPaaS Development 2023 global research study of 400 organizations.
Low-code options, as well as the even-more-streamlined no-code versions, have popped up over the last couple of years, available from legacy full-code CPaaS providers and new market entrants alike. As a result, CPaaS is quickly morphing from its origin as a rather coding-intensive––yet comparatively agile––way of creating, managing, and deploying communications applications into easy, drag-and-drop exercises requiring minimal, if any, programming expertise.
In our CPaaS research study, available for client access here, we found that roughly 41% of companies are using API services from more than one CPaaS provider. Of those, 55.2% are using a low-code platform and, for 49.8%, this is the primary approach. Meantime, full-code platforms are the primary approach for nearly 31% of companies, and especially among those that have been using CPaaS since its earliest days, and no-code platforms for 19.4%.
Low code comes with three big values, according to at least 52% of those using this option: the ability to improve innovation, lower development costs, and speed time to market. But low code also supports organizational change. For nearly 40%, low code is a boon in that it allows application ownership across functional groups, such as customer experience, customer support, marketing, or sales. And, it frees up developer time for focusing on other high-value work, 26.1% said.
But here’s the rub for CPaaS providers with low-code strategies. We’re starting to see a shift in how companies think about the low-code/no-code spend, presumably as their options grow. In a CPaaS study we conducted last year, companies showed a greater willingness to pay more for these options than they expect to pay now. By percentage, this breaks down to:
68.5% a year ago willing to pay more for low- and no-code functionality vs. 42% expecting to pay more for the same today
17.4% a year ago saying they weren’t willing to pay more vs. today’s 57.9% saying they don’t expect to pay more
Granted, comparing willingness to expectation isn’t exactly apples to apples, but this data is still indicative that companies may no longer be open to paying more with the promise of dev savings over time. Because low- and no-code platforms have become so much more commonplace, they’re less of a differentiator than even just a year ago.
