Build out a custom Web Application or an Airtable Database for your business?

To Build a Custom Web App or an Airtable for Your Business?

Building a custom web app

You might know a business owner or business that outsourced the production of a full stack application to handle their entire company's operations. Meaning, an application that their employees sign in on the browser and see all of the company information, maybe even built in workflow management to help them do their jobs.

Two things to note about this type of application:

1. it's incredibly expensive to build out a custom application (unless you don't pay a freelancer or dev shop and do it yourself) &

2. these applications are made out of two main components: a backend (business logic and a database) and a front end (the user interface that allows you to interact with the backend). It takes a good amount of time to fully develop both parts of these two components.

Now, they might've been convinced by some actor(s) that they really needed a custom web application or software and it was the only way to unlock real growth. I've been in calls with clients or friends in these types of pitches; however, I'm here to tell you there's a different way.

You don't need a custom full stack application from a dev shop unless your business is very complicated, what you're trying to do is virtually novel or not done before (low likelihood), or you're a software company/ product yourself.

Why the infinite Saas products on the market are good for you

At Horizon Ops, we mainly help B2B high ticket services so all of the above are likely not valid and there's little reason you should consider it, especially since there have been so many amazing software solutions that already tackle the main pain-points or issues that you're trying to solve.

However, there's a clear downside to just working with 20 different Saas products:

• silo'd data

• silo'd operations

  
  

So instead of working on one place, you're forced to work in 10 different places, each housing their own data and way of working. Adding more team members or role types into the equation? It becomes even more complicated. Probably more tools added, more silos, more inefficient communication, etc.

This is where no-code and automations come into the picture and save the day.

Now you can connect all of the tools that you're using or just create your own applications that are centralizing data at a fraction of the time and cost than a traditional development shop would cost you.

And if you're thinking "oh, well what if it doesn't scale'? As a B2B service business, you're very likely not going to need millions of records in your database or extremely high performance that's executing hundreds of thousands of requests per minute.

Why Airtable?

There's another blog that details why you should be using Airtable in more detail, but to keep it short: you can build a relational database very quickly that structures data just like a customized web applications and also quickly generate different ways of viewing that data for different roles or processes.

This makes it extremely efficient to collaborate with different team members and streamlines things in the business to an incredible degree.

Iterating is also much easier and faster.

Conclusion

Big data analytics is revolutionizing the financial industry, offering unparalleled opportunities for risk management, customer insights, and operational efficiency. By harnessing the power of data, financial institutions can make smarter, more strategic decisions that drive success in an increasingly complex market. Embrace big data today and transform your financial strategies for a competitive edge. For more insights and expert advice on leveraging big data in finance, stay tuned to our blog and explore our advanced analytics solutions at CloudPeak Finance.