Two weeks ago I streamed How to automate your e-commerce store with Sara Du from Alloy Automation. Alloy Automation is a no-code automation tool solely focussed on helping e-commerce stores automate their workflows.
Before that stream, I asked myself, why would the world need another automation tool? Doesn't the existing set of no-code automation tools like Zapier and Integromat suffice? Like a lot of you, when looking at a new automation tool I think, what can this one do that my existing automation tool can't? That's definitely how what I came into the session.
And frankly, Sara showed me exactly why the world needs another automation tool—and why the world is going to see a lot more of these vertical automation tools. Alloy doesn't just strive to cover a few triggers from vendors they integrate. They in fact strive to cover all available endpoints. Here's a slice of their Shopify trigger options:
This is in stark contrast to Zapier's available triggers or even Integromat's. Alloy automation covers most (if not all?) of Shopify's API whereas other automation tools focus on getting the most bang for their buck by integrating the most common endpoints. Making every endpoint available requires a lot more work.
But if I was running an e-commerce store, I'd want my automation tool to be extremely granular! It's no surprise that Parabola went a similar direction by focusing on e-commerce and Shopify specifically.
The automation space is so large that e-commerce is not the only market that's worth targeting. You have Troops that lets sales people work directly out of Slack or MS Teams. Imagine that, a successful automation tool that integrates with only one option as a destination. There's also WhenThen which automates payment workflows. Look at all of these Stripe's different API and all their respectful endpoints. Of course a tool could exist only to make all of these usable without code. Even Stripe's no-code offerings like Stripe Payment links need a little bit of code to do basic stuff.
As I get deeper into content creation, I've found myself disappointed in the levels of integration of automation software. Zapier offers no Youtube streaming integrations, or even including the thumbnail despite being available endpoints in Youtube's API. I would pay so much money for a content automation focused tool that could remove the remaining tedious steps in my workflow!
With all of that I'm revising how I view the future of no-code automation: general purpose automation tools will see users flock to in-house automation apps on the one end, and then to specialized automations tools on the other. That said, the space for automation still remains large enough for all of these to not only co-exist but flourish. Up to you to decide which tool you want to use!
