How Retool Powers Our Client’s Workflows From Concept To Implementation

Building software fast without sacrificing quality is difficult. Organizations that wish to develop and adapt technology face the “iron triangle” of balancing the trade-offs between building something good, fast, or inexpensive.

As consultants, we turn to Retool for our clients because of its powerful combination of speed and flexibility. We can use Retool’s baseline components and customize how we process and display data, which gives us the ability to “break” the iron triangle for our clients. 

In other words, with Retool, we can move fast and build quality software with limited resources. What Retool offers us is the flexibility to fit into each organization’s unique workflow.

Prototyped SaaS Applications

As one example, we recently helped a client build and launch a small SaaS app within a month. The client had an idea in the legal-tech domain and a potential customer for a demo with a tight deadline. They needed their application to function as intended and to show the potential of the idea.

We were brought in to build fast and stand up a working prototype. Retool accelerated our development by giving us the toolbox to pull together a fully-functional system. We built it from the ground up in only a few weeks, helping them hit their deadline and demo for their customer without any hand-waving. It was a huge win for all parties, and we are currently expanding to build the full consumer-facing application entirely within Retool, from interface to database.

This example has shown us that Retool can be used to prototype and power revenue-generating applications.

Supercharged Internal Operations

We’ve also used Retool for internal-facing applications. Another example is from our client flyExclusive, a private aviation company. Before using Retool, they were manually handling multiple internal workflows, from pilot flight reporting to maintenance records.

For workflows that require data transparency and customized experiences, like verifying flight logs, we’ve used Retool to create highly-specific data management interfaces. These interfaces give the right users access to the data they need in real time. And managers can edit certain fields, which updates an external database as the source of truth.

With Retool, an added bonus is that we can update the workflow and interface very quickly. In a fast-paced business environment where teams are continuously iterating and improving their operating procedures, this means that we can not only build quickly, but we can modify the application quickly too.

For example, when this client changed their procedure for managing logs, we were able to update their workflow in a matter of days instead of spending much longer developing and deploying the update. The result is that the business can evolve and the technology can keep up.

What We’ve Learned

There is certainly still a need for traditional software development, when it comes to scaling an application to support a massive user base and processing large amounts of data quickly. We haven’t hit the ceiling on either of these factors with Retool. 

Instead, we’ve found that we are able to build 90% of the necessary features with out-of-the-box Retool components and workflows. Additionally, our ability to quickly and flexibly fit into each organization’s workflow helps us delight our clients who are used to working with expensive software teams and delayed launches.

Dedicating resources to new and exploratory projects is rarely possible without a proof-of-concept. What Retool allows us to do is to help our clients achieve their goals on tight timelines and with limited budgets. This is a differentiator for our clients who need to demonstrate a return on investment before they can request additional support.

What’s Next?

While we use Retool to get our clients to outcomes fast, we don’t see it simply as a proof-of-concept system. Retool has become a key part of our toolbox because we believe that Retool can power fully-functional user applications without sacrificing quality.

We’ve found Retool to be a great data platform for internal company metrics and automation workflows. The out-of-the-box database and flexible components are the ideal foundation for us to bring disparate bits of data together and then let the end users interact with them. And after implementation, these applications are easy to maintain, update, and expand.

We are excited to be Retool Agency Partners so that we can continue to help our clients organize their data and put it to work.