How Can Internal Tools Increase the Efficiency of Your Everyday Workflows?

With the onset of a "new normal" in the pandemic world that we are living in, the digital demand has been skyrocketing. The chances are that we are spending more time & effort on internal tooling within our organization. These internal tools are pieces of software that can be either built in-house or by external developers. Such tools come in handy in our everyday affairs and improve the efficiency of the teams and organization by many folds. They have the ability to improve day-to-day operations, provide a competitive edge to the enterprise & drive value for the business.

Moving ahead in this blog we’ll try to understand the unique needs of internal tools and how organizations can integrate them in their workplace to give their employees a sorted approach to conduct their work with more efficiency.

Internal tools are bespoke technical software tools, repositories and platforms that increase the efficiency & productivity of the teams. They can also be CRUD interfaces that enable customer support and in resolving customer-facing queries. Generally, before embracing the more sophisticatedly built tools like the CRMs or HRMS, organizations start off with internal tools that can support them to automate the recurring business flows like the approval cycle automation. Such internal tools are highly tailor-made as per the needs and requirements of a particular organization and their teams. They are typically built when a cost-efficient ready solution may be absent. The targeted end consumers of these tools also decide how these tools are built and deployed.

There can be many reasons for an organization to build enterprise apps. One reason could be that it gives the power in the hands of the employees. While enabling them to use technology innovatively and efficiently along with yielding higher returns for the businesses. Building and deploying mobile applications could be especially beneficial for employees who prefer to work remotely. These tools also come with on-site applicability.

The best of the application leaders are much likely to invest in the development of internal tools. They are bound to platform strategies, to bring forth the systems of innovation & differentiation to bring about a competitive edge. More than 80% of the citizen developers use agile methodologies for some of their organizational application development.

A very recent article published in Forbes brings to light the following 4 reasons driving companies to build internal tools:

1. These tools facilitate productivity because they cut down upon trivial, non-functional, redundant processes.
2. These tools bring empowerment to the remote and onsite teams with the use of tablets and smartphones based applications. The power vests in the hand of the user as they have the necessary resources to conduct their responsibilities whenever, wherever.
3. These tools facilitate ready organizational data and analytics which can result in smarter application development.
4. Building and facilitating organizational apps has never been easier with quick access to the ready marketplaces.

Mobile apps are a staple in a number of organizations. However there keeps coming newer elements that can transform the existing apps. As new and new technologies are introduced the internal tools eventually integrate with the mobile application.

From the manufacturing giants to the technology leaders, businesses across high-value internal tooling and understand that these tools are significant to the company’s success and overall growth. Walmart, Reddit, Amazon, Netflix are some of the big shots who also invest in the internal tools along with their customer-facing interfaces. Today everything around the organization is transforming; the employees, the technologies, customers, expectations and ownership. As the role of the organizational application leaders continues to transcend and transform, it becomes even more imperative to adopt new technologies. And more so because more effective ways of working with the business stakeholders are available that supports the enterprises with dynamic growth and goodwill. In this context developing and delivering the critical internal enterprise apps or tools may become the norm in the near future.

While the organizational tools are able to supplement the existing process-driven infrastructure, they may end up being one big piece of technical debt, if they don’t come with support and maintenance. Internal tools can safely be considered as the face of the internal enterprise processes. They are quite critical when it comes to the organization’s operational efficiency and are going to hold the company’s private data. Hence, privacy and security take the front seat while selecting a solution provider who can build the internal apps. One of the advantages of using SaaS-based tools to build internal apps is that a host of legislative groundwork and governance needs are pre-built into the development platform. Most of SaaS-based platforms come with strict security measures. They are able to secure the enterprise private data with regular up checks and maintenance.

The internal tools are able to present themselves with a variety of forms and media. They are also quickly and easily accessible through enterprise resource planning software or through mobile applications or web browsers.

We can talk about Dashboards, Mobile Applications and Electronic Workflows as examples of excellent internal tooling

Dashboards can make the information available for teams within the organization quickly. Rather than waiting for reports or having to get on a call or meet for assistance, Dashboards are able to increase the efficiency of teams. The information on the dashboards is generally restricted to the team's accounts and employees.

Having the ability to work on the tasks while being on-field has been gaining a lot of prominences. To have a handy mobile app that can be downloaded to a phone or tablet can fit the bill optimally.

An electronic workflow is capable of processing the information electronically to be used for data entry, data review and approval. The users also have the power to provide alerts via electronic workflows.

If you are looking to build internal tools for your organization, you can safely consider Tooljet. You can leverage Tooljet’s low-code platform to build new internal tools or upgrade the existing ones. We use a model-driven development approach. You’d be able to create internal tools, map your company’s workflows and add automation and business logic. With the internal apps that we offer you’d be able to create custom solutions for your HR, Sales, Project Management System, Sourcing, Finance, Administration, Operations and so much more. We come with wholesome solutions with power-packed features to create internal apps or tools for your unique requirements.

Ending Note: Long story short, internal tooling is the future and it comes with a competitive advantage that supports organizations to run smoothly and scale heights quickly. These tools also have the capabilities to enhance communication across levels in an organization. We can route tasks with more efficiency and can also reduce the amount of unproductive in-person interaction that employees need to have while on their jobs. However, it is upon you to adopt technological intervention in this fast-paced world.