Think fast
Thoughts and ideas on how to build tools, automate workflows and speed-up the workplace.
Superblocks vs Retool: In-Depth Comparison
Low-code development has exploded in popularity over the past decade, with more and more companies seeking out faster, more cost-effective ways to output custom applications. Today, we’re diving deep into two of the biggest names in this space to see how Retool and Superblocks stack up against one another. See, the low-code market is hugely varied. In particular, different vendors target distinct types of user personas, use cases, and organizations. This can make it tricky to determine which is the best choice for your specific requirements.
Ronan McQuillan
May 9, 2024
5 SharePoint Alternatives and Competitors
SharePoint is the backbone of countless organizations. It’s really the go-to platform for businesses that want to enhance productivity, drive collaboration, and centralize resources. In fact, huge numbers of custom solutions and internal tools are built on top of SharePoint deployments with a little bit of configuration and customization around the edges. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right solution in all cases. Far from it. Today, we’re diving deep into the market for SharePoint alternatives.
Ronan McQuillan
May 8, 2024
Pega vs Appian
Pega and Appian are two of the biggest names in the automation space. In particular, they’re two highly enterprise-focused platforms that enable teams to automate workflows and processes without excessive custom code. However, the market for automation builders is hugely varied. At one end of the spectrum, we have platforms that allow teams to create automations without writing any code at all. On the other, we have highly code-intensive platforms, aimed at more traditional development tasks.
Ronan McQuillan
May 7, 2024
5 Smartsheet Alternatives & Competitors
Managing data around projects, tasks, workloads, and resources is one of the most basic challenges every business deals with. For many teams, this has historically meant relying on spreadsheets. However, over the past decade or so, a class of tools has gained popularity that seeks to combine the familiar UX of a spreadsheet editor with more advanced capabilities - like those of a traditional database. Smartsheet is one of the most popular names in this space.
Ronan McQuillan
May 6, 2024
What is a Workflow Engine? + 5 Open Source Tools
Workflow engines are used to simplify, expedite, and optimize all sorts of internal tasks and processes. By codifying and digitalizing business logic, an effective workflow engine enables us to achieve a high degree of efficiency, repeatability, accuracy, and productivity within daily operations. They’re also a powerful basis for business process automation, integration, real-time analytics, and other digital transformation efforts across your business. Today, we’re exploring everything you need to know.
Ronan McQuillan
May 1, 2024
Mendix vs OutSystems
OutSystems and Mendix are two of the oldest names in the low-code space. Together, they occupy a huge corner of the market, with tens of thousands of businesses relying on them to ship custom applications. But, despite being direct competitors, there are huge differences between the two - in terms of key functionality, target personas, pricing, and use cases. Today, we’re giving an in-depth account of everything you need to know.
Ronan McQuillan
Apr 26, 2024
6 ServiceNow Alternatives & Competitors
ServiceNow is totally synonymous with IT service management. In fact, it’s hugely embedded in how countless IT teams deliver services to colleagues. However, despite its dominant market share, it’s not the only option out there. See, ITSM is a hugely varied field. Even the most basic processes can look completely different from one company to the next. This raises a couple of problems for COTS ITSM platforms. Vendors inevitably need to position their solutions towards one type of team or another - even at the level of individual features.
Ronan McQuillan
Apr 25, 2024
A beginners guide to web application development (2025)
It was the year 2010, I had an idea for a web application which would allow my family and I to share images, organise shopping, populate a shared calendar, and store bills. My family was terribly disorganised. We needed this! This idea was going to make me 💰💰💰. There was a small complication with my vision - I didn’t know how to build a web application. But thankfully, I could build a static site with HTML and CSS so it couldn’t be that hard, right?
Joe Johnston
Apr 24, 2024