Amazon AppFabric: Tearing Down the No-code Integration Moat

Seemingly “free” and “smart” adhesives will become the loss leader as big tech tries to win over the Zapier/Make crowd.

Amazon’s new AWS AppFabric offers a smart and seemingly free way to connect software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, but it may also be the ideal dependency to free customers from no-code integration platforms with high switching costs.

TLDR

• No-code integration adhesives are the ideal dependency moat that locks in customers

• AI may decimate the moat currently enjoyed by the glue factories and eliminate switching costs

• AWS AppFabric offers a smart and seemingly free way to connect SaaS applications

No-code and low-code application builders who have unwittingly become glue-sniffing addicts of code-less integration face massive switching costs. Moving from Zapier to Make or custom integrations is a lot of work. AI removes the switching cost friction - soon, it won’t matter.

In this brief missive, I postulate that big tech doesn’t need a moat and that solution builders may ultimately benefit from this emerging pattern. You might also want to take in this event (Automation brew EST ed - inspirations, integrations & some sips of coffee) led by folks who understand no-code integrations far better than me.

No-code application builders who have unwittingly become glue-sniffing addicts face massive switching costs. AI will eliminate these costs. Big tech doesn't need a moat based on switching costs, ergo, that’s the one they’re attacking.

Amazon’s AWS AppFabric is designed to compete with Make and Zapier and perhaps a dozen other services I have long considered “glue factories” useful to a point, but ultimately risky for many reasons.