Technologies like AI are helping partners move into the future, but they’re also posing tricky challenges.

AI coding tools have made it remarkably easy to build software modeled on commercial products. With “vibe coding,” a term coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in early 2025, a user describes what they want in plain language. Then an AI assistant writes, tests, and revises the code, often with little review of what’s underneath.

That means a business analyst with no engineering background can now produce a working version of a CRM dashboard, a project tracker, or a field-service app in a single afternoon. That has ISVs worried about being copied — and not just by competitors but also by their own customers, who may decide to build a “good enough” version in-house rather than renew a subscription.

Although enterprises will likely keep demanding compliance, security testing, and ongoing support, which home-grown apps rarely provide, “good enough” at a lower cost is a powerful motivator, especially for smaller organizations and departmental tools. As a result, ISVs may shift value toward what’s difficult to replicate: data, ecosystem integrations, partner services, and accountability when something breaks.

It’s a trend worth watching as AI reshapes how products get made. Channelnomics CEO Larry Walsh shares his thoughts from London in the latest episode of “In the Margins.”