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Thoughts and ideas on how to build tools, automate workflows and speed-up the workplace.

How to make an App from Excel Spreadsheets

We love to hate spreadsheets. They’re everywhere. We use Excel for everything from planning our vacations and weddings, to managing inventories, payroll, and just about any other business process under the sun. But, like any blunt instrument, spreadsheets are almost the most elegant solution. Today, we’re going to look at a better way to manage data, calculations, and workflows. That is, how to make an app from Excel spreadsheets. You see, spreadsheets offer a huge amount of flexibility - there’s a reason why they’re so ubiquitous.

Ronan McQuillan

Aug 21, 2022

A story about open-source, the Bulgarian Government, and the war in Ukraine

It was a Sunday morning, and Budibase’s Bulgarian QA engineer, Mihail, receives multiple LinkedIn messages from multiple employees of the Bulgarian Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). He brushed it off, thinking it was a scam. But, suddenly, he gets a call from his cousin who works with the MoFA. It turns out that the Bulgarian Government had been using Budibase (open source repo) to build an app that would help them rehome thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

Martin McKeaveney

Jul 31, 2022

Business Process Automation | Ultimate Guide

Business process automation (BPA) is the cornerstone of any efficient organization. After all, what business wouldn’t like to do more with less? In an ever-more competitive business environment, automation is central to long-term success. All the same, BPA is widely misunderstood and under-utilized. There are countless misconceptions out there, including that automation is too expensive, complex, and laborious for all but the biggest companies. This couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Ronan McQuillan

Jul 24, 2022

How to Automate Tasks in 6 Steps

These days, automation is a fact of life. Knowing how to automate tasks is a key element of your efficiency strategy. As businesses seek to cut costs and boost profitability, they inevitably turn to different kinds of automation. This can touch just about any aspect of your business. Most employees spend the majority of their time on repetitive, menial work. This includes the likes of basic communications, data entry, information sharing, and other administrative tasks.

Ronan McQuillan

Jul 24, 2022

Automating Marketing Processes with Budibase

Automating marketing processes is a top priority for modern businesses. The more money you can save on acquiring new customers, the more profitable just about every other business activity will be. The problem is that a lot of marketing pros get a bit squeamish here. After all, marketers are typically creative types. So, you might think automation is beyond your reach, either in terms of resources or know-how. For the most part, this just isn’t the case.

Ronan McQuillan

Jul 21, 2022

What is Operations Automation? + 5 Examples

Operations automation is a top priority for any modern organization. With shrinking budgets, stiffening competition, and a need for more efficient processes, automation is a daily reality for operations teams. Of course, the ops team touches on just about everything your business does. Smooth, efficient, and robust internal systems are critical. Your operations team are the ones who make this a reality. Automation is just one weapon in this fight, but it becomes a more popular one every day.

Ronan McQuillan

Jul 21, 2022

App UI Design | Ultimate Guide

Building applications is all about making users’ lives easier, smoother, and more efficient. Your app UI design is a critical part of this. As we’ll see, UIs impact everything from the basic usability of your tools to the concrete business value they’ll ultimately provide. Still, we’ve all struggled with using poorly-designed applications. Today we’re going in-depth on what you need to know about building effective UI/UXs. We’ll cover everything from the core principles of design, to specific tools, techniques, and strategies you can use to build incredible UIs.

Ronan McQuillan

Jun 28, 2022

14 Effective Table UI Design Tips + 6 Shortcuts

The humble table is the core of almost any data-centric app interface. Table UI design is central to how your users find, view, and interact with all kinds of information. With such a fundamental role in your tools, the design of your tables and the screens that contain them can have an outsized impact on your overall user experiences. Today, we’re going to look at some of the top ways you can design your tables for maximum efficiency, usability, and effectiveness.

Ronan McQuillan

Jun 27, 2022

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