Unlike regular software, which is created for a broad user base across various companies, custom internal software is specifically designed to cater to the unique business processes and workflows of a particular team or company.
1. Why is development of custom internal software often overlooked and what are the limitations of the current approach?
Expensive Nature of Conventional Development: Traditional development requires constructing user interfaces and business logic from the ground up, employing a range of tools and frameworks. This method encompasses not only the initial deployment but also ongoing maintenance, monitoring, and updates for both applications and infrastructure, leading to substantial costs
Developer Resource Allocation Dilemma: Typically, public-facing apps receive more attention due to their direct revenue impact as opposed to internal software.
Reliance on Off-the-Shelf Solutions: Quite often organizations turn to generic SaaS products, which meet their needs partly. The remaining gaps are filled with inefficient solutions like spreadsheets, manual workflows, or ad hoc scripts, which are difficult to maintain and require constant updates
Limitations of "No Code" Tools: No-code tools reach their limits with complex requirements. These situations often necessitate developer intervention for tasks like configuring APIs, accessing and processing data, or creating complex interfaces.
2. How is Retool helping us fix custom internal software development problems for our customers?
Rapid Development Cycles: Our prototyping to deployment cycle is efficient compared to traditional methods. We make use of a wide array of out-of-the-box components like tables, forms, charts, and rich media to create complex interfaces which seamlessly integrate with custom logic. We code custom logic using JS or Python on Retool, while retool simplifies integration with various databases, cloud services, and APIs right from the platform.
Solving the Build vs. Buy Puzzle: Retool enables us to rapidly iterate, effortlessly make updates, thus reducing backlog, and deploy applications for our clients. Therefore, the traditional dilemma of ‘build vs buy’ rarely arises. This approach minimizes technical debt and maintenance requirements.
Hassle-Free Deployment Management: With Retool, managing deployments, releases, and environments becomes easy as they can be handled within the platform itself.
3. Conclusion
Adoption of Retool represents a significant leap forward in how we approach custom internal software development.
By addressing the inherent challenges of traditional development methods, we are not only overcoming the cost and resource allocation issues but also moving beyond the limitations of off-the-shelf and no-code solutions.
Retool's ability to facilitate rapid development cycles, coupled with its ease of integration and deployment, marks a transformative shift in our development strategy.
This new approach not only empowers us to meet our clients' specific needs more efficiently but also enables us to navigate the build vs. buy decision with greater ease and confidence.
As we continue to harness the full potential of Retool, we are poised to deliver more tailored, effective, and innovative software solutions that drive success for our clients and set new standards in the industry