mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software

Application Development

Internal Tools: How to Build Apps That Streamline Your Business

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Imagine being stuck in an endless email chain…just to get a simple approval. Or worse, imagine wasting hours pulling data from disconnected spreadsheets only to realize it’s already outdated. 

The fact is, most internal processes are a mess.

Teams jump between tools. Spreadsheets do things they were never meant to do. Manual workarounds become the standard. Everyone knows it’s inefficient, but…no one knows how to fix it. Or, they’re just used to it.

That’s where internal tools come in.

Internal tools are custom apps built to solve problems inside your business. They help your team work faster, cut out repetitive tasks, and replace duct-taped processes with real solutions.

Better yet, they fit into your own infrastructure and unique business processes. When done right, these custom internal tools are invisible. They just work. They streamline processes and never get in the way.

The best part? Creating internal tools isn’t that hard. You don’t need a huge development team or a massive budget. With the right plan (and the right tools), anyone can build internal tools that make a real difference.

In this article, I’ll walk through how to do it. You’ll learn what works, what to avoid, and how to make internal tools a real advantage for your business. 

Sound good? Let’s get into it.

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What is a CRUD Application (And How Do You Build One)?

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Let’s talk about the unsung hero of business web applications: The CRUD application. They’re everywhere, whether you realize it or not. Your customer database? It’s a CRUD app. Your company’s inventory system? Also a CRUD app. Even when you’re posting updates on LinkedIn – you guessed it – you’re using CRUD apps.

But what exactly makes these applications “CRUD,” and why should you care? In this article, we’ll cut through the technical jargon and explore:

  • What makes an application “CRUD”
  • Real-world examples
  • Important tips for building them (the right way)
  • How to build CRUD apps quickly

Whether you aim to replace that aging system or build new applications, mastering CRUD apps allows you to understand your development project better and ultimately make more informed decisions about them. 

Sounds good? Let’s dive in.

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Build an Inventory Management System in 75 minutes with Low-Code (step-by-step video)

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We just released a new video that takes you step-by-step through an inventory management system build process. We created this video to demonstrate just how quickly you can create custom applications (like an inventory management system) with m-Power. In roughly 75 minutes, we go from just the data in our database to a fully functional inventory management system, and explain each step along the way. Watch the video below to see the whole process!

Want to see what m-Power can do for your business? Shoot us a note to set up a demo: Setup an m-Power Demo.

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7 web application development challenges in 2024 (and a solution)

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Summary: As technology evolves at breakneck speed, it brings new opportunities and challenges to web application development. If businesses want to create lasting, successful web applications, they must address these challenges.

Let’s talk about web applications. I know it’s a vague term, so I’ll quickly define it for the sake of clarity.

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Video: Create a database CRUD application in 5 minutes

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analyticsWe just released a new video that shows you how to create a database CRUD application in 5 minutes using a low-code development tool. If you’re not familiar with CRUD, it stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete, and it’s a fundamental concept in database management.

A CRUD application lets you perform these four basic operations on a database table. I know…this might not sound very exciting. But CRUD applications are the backbone of most modern software applications.

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How to Create Composable Business Applications

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developmentComposable applications are business apps that are made of reusable, modular components. They use ‘building blocks’ which can be reused across other applications.

Now, this isn’t a new concept. The idea of modular application development has been around for years. But, why is it so important right now? Why are analyst firms like Gartner pushing the composable concept recently? According to Gartner, it’s so important because “Composability helps you keep up with the accelerating pace of business change.”

They’re absolutely correct. We’re living in a time of rapid change. Agility is more important than ever. A ‘composable’ approach to application development helps businesses adapt to change at lightning speed. It helps your business deliver new applications in hours/days instead of months/weeks.

The next question: How do you create composable applications? Is it difficult to build all of those reusable blocks? Rather than try to explain it to you, we just put together a new video that walks you through the whole process from start to finish. You can watch it below:

Want to learn more? Set up a demo here: Set up a demo.

7 myths and facts you should understand about low-code development

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EducationSummary: As businesses rush to deliver solutions quickly, low-code development is growing. But, it’s a relatively new term and is still surrounded by confusion. In this article, we dispel some common myths of low-code development platforms and share some important facts.
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Low-Code Development 101: Understanding the Basics

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EducationSummary: Application development has long been a problem facing both the IT department and the business units. The IT department gets overwhelmed with new application requests. They can’t possibly complete every project when the business wants it done. Meanwhile, the business users get tired of waiting, and start bypassing the IT department altogether. Today, we explore the concept of “low-code development”, and explain how it helps address this problem.
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Why web application development projects fail (and what IT can do about it)

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EducationSummary: Depending on the survey you read, anywhere from 25% – 68% of development projects fail. These failures often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, waste months (or years) of time, and usually lead to people losing their jobs. Why do these projects fail, and what can you do about it? We answer those questions (and more) in this article.
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8 questions to ask before developing applications on the cloud

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EducationSummary: It’s a growing trend in the business world: More application development is moving to the cloud. More developers are opting for cloud-based development platforms, and more businesses are moving their application development off-site and onto a cloud host. The problem is, many make the move without understanding how the cloud changes development. In this article, we explore a few of these changes and outline important questions to ask before making the move.
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How to complete impossible projects with a small IT staff

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ProductivityImagine this: You’re in charge of your company’s IT department. Everything is running smoothly, until one day, you get some bad news. Your competitors just rolled out features that you don’t have–in this case, a web-based order entry system.

Then you get some worse news: Several of your largest customers noticed your competition’s shiny new web-based order entry system. They are frustrated that you don’t have a similar option. All of a sudden, a web-based order entry system is a top business priority. …

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How can web apps improve the voting process?

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EducationSummary: The next presidential election is just around the corner. Soon, voters will file through polling locations–waiting in long lines for their chance to cast their vote. But, what if there were a way to simplify the process? What if there was a way to streamline the voting process, and reduce the inefficiencies? Learn how one county government accomplished this very task–simplifying the voter check-in process and eliminating long wait times.
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Citizen Development: 5 keys to success

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EducationSummary: As defined by Gartner, “A citizen developer is a user who creates new business applications for consumption by others using development and runtime environments sanctioned by corporate IT.” A growing trend, citizen development has become a key tool in the fight against Shadow IT. With citizen development tools, businesses can now give users the ability to create solutions on their own, without the need to bypass the IT department. In this article, we explore a few steps your business must take if you hope to capitalize on this trend.
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Citizen Development 101: Understanding the Basics

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EducationSummary: Application development has long been a problem facing both the IT department and the business units. The IT department gets overwhelmed with new application requests. They can’t possibly complete every project when the business wants it done. Meanwhile, the business users get tired of waiting, and start bypassing the IT department altogether. Today, we explore the concept of “citizen development”, and explain how it helps address this problem.
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