For the last decade, the default answer to almost every digital business problem has been the same:
Find some software and subscribe to it.
Need appointment bookings? There’s a SaaS platform for that.
Need event registrations? Another subscription.
Need an interactive calculator? Find a tool.
Need forms, workflow automation, a customer portal, volunteer management, reporting or an internal dashboard?
There is almost certainly a monthly subscription available.
Software as a Service transformed how businesses operate because it removed the need to build software ourselves.
Now AI-assisted development is beginning to change that equation again.
The SaaS era isn’t ending
Let’s be clear: SaaS isn’t going anywhere.
Platforms such as Webflow, HubSpot, Xero and countless specialist applications solve extraordinarily complex problems and provide infrastructure that would make absolutely no sense for most businesses to recreate.
The interesting change is happening at the other end of the spectrum.
Businesses have accumulated dozens of subscriptions for relatively simple functions.
A tool might solve 20 problems when the business only needs two of them.
Another might charge per user.
Another increases pricing as the database grows.
Another doesn’t quite integrate with the website.
Another controls the customer experience and can’t be styled properly.
Individually, these subscriptions seem inexpensive.
Collectively, they can become a significant part of a company’s technology stack.
The build versus buy calculation is changing
Historically, custom development was expensive.
If an organisation needed a bespoke booking system or internal workflow tool, it could involve weeks or months of development.
Buying an existing SaaS product was usually the obvious choice.
AI-assisted software development is dramatically reducing the amount of time required to create certain types of applications.
Developers can use tools such as Claude and ChatGPT to accelerate architecture, coding, testing, debugging and documentation.
Modern infrastructure platforms handle authentication, databases, hosting and deployment.
APIs make it easier for systems to communicate.
The result is that relatively focused digital tools can sometimes be built in days rather than months.
That changes the economics.
The rise of micro-apps
One of the developments we’re most excited about is the growth of small, purpose-built applications.
Not another giant enterprise platform.
A tool that does exactly what the organisation needs.
For example:
- event registration systems
- volunteer booking platforms
- staff portals
- campaign preview tools
- quotation calculators
- eligibility checkers
- lead qualification tools
- product selectors
- searchable directories
- interactive maps
- reporting dashboards
- approval workflows
- document generators
- content-management tools
- customer portals
- internal knowledge tools
These don’t necessarily need to become standalone software companies.
They’re simply useful pieces of technology built around a specific business requirement.
From renting functionality to owning it
This introduces another interesting consideration: ownership.
With most SaaS products, businesses rent access to functionality.
Stop paying and access stops.
Pricing can change.
Features can disappear.
Limits can be introduced.
The platform controls the roadmap.
Custom development provides a different model.
The organisation can own the application, data structure, interface and intellectual property associated with the tool.
That doesn’t mean custom software is free to operate. Applications still require hosting, maintenance, security updates and occasional development.
But the economics and level of control can be very different.
Building digital tools directly into your website
Another advantage is integration.
Many businesses have websites that are effectively surrounded by third-party platforms.
Click “Book” and you’re sent somewhere else.
Register for an event and the design changes completely.
Complete a calculator and you’re interacting with an embedded widget carrying somebody else’s branding.
Log into a portal and you’ve left the main website ecosystem entirely.
Sometimes that’s completely appropriate.
But increasingly, we’re able to build these experiences directly into the website or closely integrate them with platforms such as Webflow.
The result can be a much more cohesive customer experience.
Imagine a volunteer organisation
Consider an organisation coordinating hundreds of volunteering opportunities across multiple locations.
They might need:
- a searchable calendar of opportunities
- different locations
- limited places for individual sessions
- registration forms
- automatic capacity management
- confirmation emails
- cancellation functionality
- reminder emails
- administrator controls
- CRM integration
- reporting
- the ability for staff to create new events
Traditionally, the organisation might stitch together an events plugin, Calendly, forms, spreadsheets, email automation and a CRM.
That can work perfectly well.
But today there’s another option.
A focused application can potentially bring those workflows together into one experience specifically designed around how the organisation operates.
Or a business with a complex quoting process
The same principle applies commercially.
Imagine a service business where customers repeatedly ask:
“How much will this cost?”
Instead of providing a PDF price guide or sending every enquiry to a salesperson, the business could create an interactive estimator.
Customers answer a series of questions.
The tool calculates an indicative range.
Their requirements are captured.
The CRM receives a structured lead.
The sales team already understands the scope before making contact.
That isn’t simply a website feature.
It’s a piece of business infrastructure.
AI is making bespoke development accessible to smaller organisations
Custom applications used to be predominantly an enterprise conversation.
That’s changing.
AI-assisted development means startups, charities, SMEs and marketing teams can increasingly consider bespoke tools where previously they would automatically have purchased another subscription.
The key is choosing the right problems.
Nobody should build their own accounting platform because they dislike paying for Xero.
Nobody should recreate HubSpot because they need a contact form.
But if you’re paying thousands of dollars every year for a relatively simple workflow that doesn’t quite suit the business, it may now be worth asking:
Could we build this ourselves?
The “SaaSpocalypse”
There’s been plenty of discussion in the technology industry about a potential “SaaSpocalypse”: AI-generated software making thousands of smaller SaaS products redundant.
The reality will probably be more nuanced.
Great SaaS products will continue to thrive because they combine deep functionality, reliability, security, integrations and continuous development.
But generic software solving relatively simple problems is going to face increasing competition from bespoke applications.
Why adapt your business process to software when software can increasingly be adapted to your business process?
That’s a significant shift.
Websites are becoming applications again
For years, many business websites became relatively passive.
Pages.
Content.
Forms.
Maybe an ecommerce store.
We’re now seeing websites become more functional again.
A modern Webflow website can act as the customer-facing layer while connecting to databases, APIs, automation platforms, AI models and custom applications behind the scenes.
That means the conversation about a new website is becoming broader.
Instead of asking:
“What pages do we need?”
we can ask:
“What could the website actually do for the business?”
That’s a much more interesting question.
AI agents will push this further
The next stage is AI agents.
Instead of software simply waiting for someone to click buttons, applications can increasingly interpret information and perform tasks.
An internal system could review incoming enquiries and categorise them.
A content system could identify outdated information.
A marketing application could prepare campaign assets for review.
A reporting tool could analyse data and surface anomalies.
A website could respond differently based on customer intent.
We’re moving from websites containing tools to websites connected to intelligent systems.
Should businesses stop buying SaaS?
Absolutely not.
The right SaaS platform remains one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to solve many business problems.
But the automatic assumption that every problem requires another subscription deserves reconsideration.
Sometimes you should buy.
Sometimes you should integrate.
Sometimes you should automate.
And increasingly, sometimes you should build.
A more interesting future for digital agencies
This is also changing what a digital agency can be.
Our role isn’t limited to designing websites or producing campaign assets.
We’re increasingly helping clients examine processes and ask whether technology could make them simpler.
Sometimes the solution is an existing platform.
Sometimes it’s connecting existing platforms more intelligently.
And sometimes it’s building something completely new.
AI has dramatically expanded what’s possible within realistic budgets and timelines.
That’s exciting for developers.
But it’s arguably even more exciting for businesses.
Because some of the best applications of AI won’t be giant new technology companies.
They’ll be small pieces of bespoke software quietly solving annoying problems inside ordinary businesses.
And we’re going to see a lot more of them.
