This might sound like an oversimplification of what's happening with software as a service, and by no means does this apply to every company, but I believe there is a potential that every company could build their own apps using their own tech stack. I'll explain.
I handle tech for one of the world's largest REMAX franchises. We use enterprise grade applications to manage our business. These apps including Lone Wolf for accounting, SkySlope for deals management, Microsoft Office and its suite of applications for internal communications and productivity, apps from PropTx, the local real estate board.
We rely on apps from REMAX for marketing and lead generation, including BoldTrail by Inside Real Estate, Marketing Studio by Real Force, and several others. In-house, we use website providers but we've built our own application called Hallmark Hub, which handles automated marketing for our real estate agents and provides them with a comprehensive repository of all the resources we have available.
Lately, our leadership and administration teams have been finding gaps between what the applications we have access to are able to do, and what we need (or want) them to do. Then there's the talk of the REAL-REMAX merger that's promising to bring a whole bunch of tech goodies to the table, which will apparently solve deal processing and marketing gaps.
But we can't wait.
Almost daily, I get asked by colleagues if we can do this... or that. And while I'm not a developer by trade, I've started using vibe coding tools (Lovable) and now dabbling with Claude Code to build up what I call mini-apps that fill the gaps of what we have, and what we want and need. And these apps are being used by the organization as a way to solve problems that they would've otherwise had to find other workarounds for.
And since we do have access to developers who work with us on contract, and in-house IT who have development skills, we've explored the possibility of building our own in-house applications to solve specific problems. We've started to build our own website, because we wanted to create custom functionality and dealing with our current provider's fixed infrastructure makes that a challenge. We've started putting bits and pieces together for our internal deals processing app, because the stack we're using isn't measuring up to what we need. And we're using this ability to build out apps tied to marketing and agent management.
While these apps won't necessarily become enterprise grade, there is a future where companies are using these tools to build out their own applications for their specific uses, instead of buying off-the-shelf applications that were made for everyone but don't solve specific problems companies face.
But here's an interesting part of this. I am being approached by other brokerages who have developed their own apps, enticing us to use their application. Likewise, years ago when we first developed our Hub, we've approached other brokerages to see if they wanted to deploy it for their brokerage.
In a future where companies can have even one developer on staff who is capable of building out apps in this fashion, will there be a collapse of software as a service, the way we know it today? Will companies build out their own productivity suite, and replace Microsoft Office? Will they create their own customized accounting systems, and replace Quick Books? How about their own meeting platforms, and replace Zoom?
We're going to see something interesting with the buy versus build decision companies make when looking at what applications they want to add to their stack. Because creating a customized application suitable for your company, versus buying one that was made to satisfy most, is a real decision that could pretty well define a competitive edge. If your company builds out a customized marketing suite that outperforms a ready made enterprise grade app, doesn't that give you an edge over your competitors?
There are other considerations to take into account, such as scale, performance, and ultimately the security and reliability of your app. But remember, we're at the early days of seeing this emerge. There will be solutions to each of these challenges. And we will see a future where companies and organizations will be building out their own apps that work the way they want it to.