Think fast
Thoughts and ideas on how to build tools, automate workflows and speed-up the workplace.
What is a CRUD App & How to Build One in 3 Steps
We use CRUD apps every day. Most of the time, without noticing. They keep us organized, they help digitise business processes, and they’re critical to application development. But many of us are oblivious to what CRUD apps are, or how to build one. Within this post, I am to provide you with a simple and straightforward guide to the world of CRUD apps. The guide is broken down into three sections:
Joe Johnston
Mar 6, 2025
10 PowerApps Alternatives & Competitors in 2025
Microsoft PowerApps was one of the first modern low-code platforms when it launched in 2015. The goal was to provide large businesses with a new, faster way to output custom applications. Today, it’s used by developers and other IT professionals alike to simplify the process of building custom software. Thousands of companies in all kinds of industries choose PowerApps for internal development projects. However, that doesn’t mean that PowerApps is the right fit for every organization.
Ronan McQuillan
Mar 5, 2025
Top 5 Incident Management Tools for 2025
Incident management is one of the most challenging aspects of IT service delivery. However, it’s also critical, as incidents can come with huge costs, including financial, security, compliance, reputational, or service continuity issues. Of course, prevention is always better than cure. However, the reality is that we can’t prevent every possible incident from occurring. So, where problem management and risk management might stop incidents from occurring, incident management is concerned with minimizing the impact of those that still do.
Ronan McQuillan
Feb 28, 2025
How to Build an Engineering Change Management System in 5 Steps
Managing changes to engineering projects can be an incredibly tricky process. Even seemingly minor changes must be accurately assessed for risks, costs, compliance issues, and potential impacts. This applies to almost all kinds of engineering, including software, construction, and others. The key challenges here include identifying a need for change, assessing the impact of potential actions, and applying consistent business rules to authorize new change initiatives. However, engineering projects also introduce additional difficulties.
Ronan McQuillan
Feb 27, 2025
6 ServiceNow Alternatives & Competitors for 2025
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, service management 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
Feb 25, 2025
ServiceNow vs Zendesk: In-Depth Guide
Zendesk and ServiceNow are two of the biggest names in the service management space. Each platform offers a distinct slant on similar core functionality, including service desks, request management, ticketing, and related ITSM, ESM, or external-facing service workflows. Which is not to say that one platform is necessarily better than the other. Rather, each one is optimized for its own target organizations, teams, and use cases. In this guide, we’re diving deep into what each one offers, who it’s aimed at, where it’s a viable option, and what practical considerations we’ll need to make before rolling it out.
Ronan McQuillan
Feb 25, 2025
4 Methods for REST API Authentication
Understanding the different methods of API authentication is a core competence for any would-be developer, data professional, or anyone else who wants to connect to external tools, data sources, or other resources. Nowadays, APIs are fundamental to the way we build, integrate, and use all kinds of digital tools - whether this is building custom software from scratch - or simply connecting existing SaaS platforms to create streamlined workflows. So, you need to know how to use the different authentication methods that vendors could implement for their APIs.
Ronan McQuillan
Feb 21, 2025
Top 6 Software Asset Management Software Tools
Businesses of all sizes face a growing challenge of staying on top of the software tools they use. Combating shadow IT, managing costs, and ensuring our team have the capabilities they need can be a massive undertaking. But, the actual practicalities of this can vary from one organization to the next. For example, because of the scale of your team, the scope of the tools they need, or the complexity of your wider IT environment.
Ronan McQuillan
Feb 21, 2025