Optimize Your Business Growth with a Scalable No-Code Pricing Model

As we enter a period of more economic uncertainty, it’s important to ensure that investments in new or existing software tools offer great price – to-value ratios. With tech stack budgets tightening, going into 2023, CFOS and organizations are looking to reduce SaaS spending to eliminate the most repetitive and underutilized backend tools. According to ITProToday, “More than eight in 10 (82%) teams reported they are facing higher expectations, and 44% of respondents said they are actively auditing their business’s current processes to figure out where to save time and money.”

For this reason, many organizations are turning to code applications like no-code tools and low-code platforms like Knack, simply because the ROI and price-to-value ratios are so high. No-code platforms allow users to create web apps without a development team or a single line of code. It’s a Swiss army knife, and the value grows exponentially as you add new applications to solve more data, workflow, and API automation challenges and lower your cost per app.

When picking a No-Code platform or low-code tool, there are a few core considerations that organizations need to keep in mind. These include:

1. Reduce SaaS sprawl and lower cost per app for scalability

The pricing model in Knack platform is designed to empower both citizen developers and subject matter experts on the ground floor without the need for a professional developer. They also offer the ability to start small and grow into new apps and use cases over time rather than procuring a solution for every new challenge that comes up. This is a more slow and steady approach to digital transformation. Most organizations spend the majority of their budget on mission-critical transactional systems like ERP. However, purchasing a new SaaS tool for the 100s of use cases at the “long tail” is getting far more scrutiny these days. In fact, the best practice to reducing SaaS sprawl is often to eliminate underused or redundant apps and duplicative licenses.

When you invest in a no-code app where the marginal cost of solving the next point solution challenge is incredibly low, that’s when an organization becomes efficient with its technology and SaaS spending. And according to a 2022 State of Business Technology Report from Systematic and Workato, 57% of IT teams are under pressure to reduce SaaS spending right now. One way to do this is to consolidate business processes on a platform that can grow with you as new point challenges arise rather than procuring, deploying, and forcing a team to learn and adopt a new tool every month. When your entire organization has access to a platform that puts the power of problem-solving in their hands, each app that is built results in a lower cost per app and a greater overall ROI (and significantly less SaaS sprawl).

A great example of this is how CureTech, one of the nation’s largest and most trusted durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, built their entire business on Knack. The ease of use and automation built into CureTech’s app adds up to significant savings. In comparing its staffing to a company that’s most similar, JD says the efficiency of CureTech’s processes and infrastructure reduce full-time staffing requirements. “We’re saving $250,000 per year or more just from headcount costs alone.”

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2. Invest in tools with utility pricing models for accurate cost forecasting

Organizations need to be able to accurately predict and forecast operational costs for the upcoming fiscal year. Ensure you are investing in cost-effective tools that offer a utility pricing model with the ability to start slow and grow purely based on the value to the organization.

Most no-code tools and low-code tools offer pricing based on the number of users. The reality is that you are likely overpaying for users that don’t get value from the system. Part of the reason is that it takes time for users to fully adopt solutions and ramp on the platform. Another piece is that many of your users never even log into the system, or they have cyclical challenges to solve at the end of the quarter or end of the year and that is the only time they ever log in. Paying for these users, even at a discounted rate for infrequent usage is a drain on your spending since it doesn’t map well to the value provided. Utility models like Knack that meter data on the other hand scale with the value received since the amount of data is a much better proxy to value than users or even apps.

A common use case that exemplifies this paradigm is building customer portals. These user interfaces offer self-serve transparency in the areas of order management, supply chain workflows, contract updates, or even non =-profit member databases where you can communicate directly with your end users. These users can even update their own information, or view new data submissions and edits they have made to their own profiles online. These user experience solutions offer tremendous value by keeping a constant real-time communications stream running with your customers or partners and eliminating the need for them to connect with you directly via chat, email, or phone call. It’s a win for customers and the organization, the customer experience, and can often lead to lower costs of customer support via the self-service approach.

It’s clear this customer portal use case offers value, but it breaks down completely when you meter your pricing on users or even limited users. Those frameworks break down because the cost incurred grows every time you need to add new users to the platform. Typical workarounds are often to publish a static web page online that needs to be updated by the organization, rather than end users updating their profiles themselves via a self-service portal. Pricing models that simplify the user model and meter the amount of data used (records and storage) offer far greater price to value by delivering members or customers greater visibility and engagement with your organization based on the amount of data they consume. This way organizations are charged more based on the amount of data viewed/consumed which maps to the real value of the solution. It doesn’t charge based on end users who don’t need access or need it on a very infrequent basis like quarterly reporting only a few days a year.

3. Look for flexibility and ease of use

When evaluating No-Code platforms, it’s important to consider the functionality of the tools they offer. Because most no-code users are not part of or have a development team, there needs to be an assurance that the time cost doesn’t outweigh the platform costs.

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In addition to ease of use and functionality, it’s also important to consider how well the No-Code platform integrates with other tools and systems. Integration is key to creating a complete solution that meets all of an organization’s needs. A good No-Code platform should offer seamless integration with other popular tools and systems, such as CRM, project management, and accounting software.

Another important consideration is the platform’s ability to optimize for search engines (SEO). No-Code platforms should offer features that help users optimize their applications for search engines, such as the ability to add metadata, create clean URLs, and optimize content for keywords.

Lastly, it’s important to look for No-Code platforms that offer a no-code development environment. This means that users can build and deploy applications without needing to write any code at all. No-code development platforms are ideal for organizations that don’t have dedicated developers or want to reduce their reliance on developers. No-code platforms also offer cost savings as they eliminate the need to hire expensive developers.

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By considering functionality, integration, SEO optimization, and no-code development, organizations can ensure they select the right no-code platform or low-code platform that meets all of their software development needs. A good No-Code platform can help organizations reduce costs, increase efficiency, and achieve their business objectives more quickly and effectively.

Looking to create your own web or mobile app with Knack? Contact us today and we’ll help you get started with a bespoke system that meets all of your needs.