How no-code platforms have changed the way business applications are developed is discussed by Jacek Wlizło, Board Member of Qalcwise, Konrad Kowal, Board Member of Quickkly, and Paulo Souza, Country Director of JOINCO Polska.
Qalcwise.com is a no-code platform for building business applications. What does that mean?
Jacek Wlizło:
In short – we offer clients an ecosystem in which they can build applications to support any business process. We are able to address virtually all company needs – from purely administrative applications, through operational support, logistics, all the way to finance and front office.
What is key in Qalcwise is that we are just as flexible as traditional development, where applications are built from scratch, and we are able to deliver the same quality. However, because we have a ready platform, application development is incomparably easier and takes less time – a few weeks instead of several months. This ultimately results in significantly lower development costs – sometimes even several times lower.
It is a true revolution. The project execution itself is also more flexible and client-friendly – we do not need a large specification at the beginning, because we address the client’s needs continuously. Ultimately, some of our clients develop the system of applications independently after knowledge transfer from us.
How are applications created using the Qalcwise.com platform?
Konrad Kowal:
The key issue is building mutual trust and quickly understanding the client’s business needs. Because our platform is a no-code platform, we are able to discuss requirements for a given area – department or business process – in a single meeting, and within a few days I can present a prototype application to the client.
We then refine the business requirements, and after a few weeks the application is ready.
In the case of our client JOINCO, we first built back-office applications such as: Vacation, Travel, Remote Work, GDPR. We started with elements that have the smallest impact on business operations – in order for employees to gradually and in a non-invasive way get used to communication within the system.
Next, we developed applications for Marketing, Quality, and Logistics departments. The challenge at this stage was implementing on the Qalcwise platform the specific workflows of these departments, their collaboration, and communication with external organizations such as suppliers or certification bodies.
Currently, we are starting work on applications for the key Sales Department. Step by step, we are digitizing the entire JOINCO branch in Poland and planning to expand our solutions to other branches of the company in Portugal, Colombia, and China.
Do Qalcwise.com applications improve company management?
Paulo Souza:
In 2019, we noticed that our organization had grown to a size where challenges related to information flow made it difficult to maintain our previous stable growth trend. These challenges intensified significantly after the 2020 pandemic.
We concluded that in order for the company to continue growing dynamically, it was necessary to move from information disintegration to integration. This meant business digitalization.
Of course, starting the transformation and digitalization process came with many concerns from employees, so we had to change their mindset and the entire organizational culture. We had to explain why all these changes were necessary and what benefits they would bring to each individual – so that employees would feel engaged and take responsibility for the entire digitalization process.
When it comes to Qalcwise, we needed tools tailored to JOINCO’s needs and our specific business model. Another extremely important aspect is the ability to introduce changes after the system is already live – modifications can be made “on the fly.”
Digitalization is a process that never ends, and its goal is to make our work more productive and less stressful for everyone, while ensuring that information flow within the company is as efficient as possible, allowing the business to grow steadily.
Our company’s digital transformation made us become one organism. Finally, all business units can work on the same real-time data.
“We offer clients an ecosystem in which they can build applications to support any business processes.”
Paulo Souza, Country Director JOINCO Polska
Konrad Kowal, Board Member of Quickkly
Jacek Wlizło, Board Member of Qalcwise.com
This entire article and our conversation were published in this year’s October issue of Forbes magazine in the section “Digital Future in Business.” We encourage readers to explore the full article on no-code in the printed edition of the magazine.