Modern Enterprise: Why Airtable? The Top 20 Links Worth Your Time
Airtable is a relatively new Software-as-a-Service (online software, more commonly known as SaaS Software) to enter the arena for business users. I first saw it when I was looking for process management tools and a search result showed it in comparison to Trello. I was intrigued because I love Trello for what it does for me personally and what it has done for our team. This post is first in a series which will focus on Airtable and how to use it in a modern Enterprise. The Modern Enterprise is an organization or team that uses the Internet and online business software to organize people, processes, information, and systems to achieve their goals. We chose to start with Airtable because it hits home for a basic and fundamental need in business which Excel, Google Spreadsheets, and others have thus far met fairly well. If you are no novice to organizing information, you know what I’m talking about. I once knew a professor who said his $500 million / year professional service business was run by his COO on Excel.
Business users have been using spreadsheets to organize information for decades. Excel is probably one of the most used business tools in the world because of its versatility by way of simple columns and rows and power by way of formulas and macros. Today, there are many alternatives to Excel that users can use online. Here are a few which I’ve used and think are good for the most part.
Google Spreadsheets – We use these extensively.
SmartSheets – I have used it in the past, and think it does some things well.
Microsoft Excel 365 – In addition to it _being_ Excel, syncing with iOS apps, it can also work with Microsoft’s Big Data product HDInsight.
These tools are all great and I don’t want to take away from them, but Airtable is another beast altogether. What drew me to Airtable was its simplicity. It looks simple. It feels simple. It _is_ simple. Having had, ahem, some, ahem, experience in databases and online software, I knew how to start using it pretty quickly. I knew I could use it, but I wanted to see if someone else could use it. I asked one of our Project Managers, Danielle, to make an Airtable to track the status of our clients, which ones were on subscription with us vs. working with us on an ad-hoc basis. Danielle is an extremely intelligent and organized team member but she’s not a technologist per se. She’s the model for what I call a technology-empowered team member. Danielle had never used Airtable before but was and is very adept at using spreadsheets to track projects and project finances. She was able to whip something up in no time.
Here are my initial thoughts which will guide my evaluation of Airtable for The Modern Enterprise in four upcoming articles (see below).
- Airtable can be used across the different responsibility areas of The Modern Enterprise (Sales & Marketing, Products & Services, Research & Development, Operations & Infrastructure, Finance & Accounting, and Leadership & Management)
- Airtable can be used by people internal and external to a company because of its ease in creating “teams” which share a certain set of tables.
- Airtable can be used for tracking Information or Data, but I think there are better uses for it, especially tracking the Information for Processes.
- Airtable is a powerful system and can be connected to other systems easily, non-technically, using Zapier or through custom development that interacts with Airtable APIs.
Here are some great links to get you started until the next few posts on Airtable.
Catalyzing collaboration: how WeWork uses Airtable to design community
Walk into any of WeWork’s 83 locations, and it’s immediately apparent what makes their approach to coworking different: the design.
How Automatic Labs created the perfect agile product management system with Airtable
Adam Altman, head of product at Automatic Labs, uses Airtable to organize the product development of an innovative connected-car platform. If you have a car, maybe you’ve noticed a trapezoidal port underneath your steering wheel.
Smartsheet vs Airtable Comparison Chart
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Smartsheet Vs. Airtable
Save time and money. Let our software experts find top Project Management recommendations for your business. Smartsheet is a web based project management solution for businesses of all sizes. Its capabilities include resource management, task management, reporting, collaboration, and others.
How to Integrate Airtable with Smartsheet
The web is enabling huge productivity gains, and syncing Smartsheet and Airtable together is just the beginning of what Zapier can do. With a simple interface, you don't need to hire expensive developers to complete your workflow.
Airtable Launches Its API And Embedded Databases
Two months after launching its unique organizational tool, Airtable is rolling out two new features that’ll make it easier to share your personal spreadsheet/database hybrids with others in a way they’ll find useful.
5 Ways Nonprofits Get Organized With Airtable
Nonprofits around the world use Airtable to track donations, budgets, programs and more. Watch this short video to see why.
Airtable Webinar: Exploring Project Management Workflows
In this webinar, we cover how to use different field types, linked records, and views in the context of project management. We also discuss Airtable's collaboration features.
Making an infinitely flexible todo list in Airtable
There are hundreds of todo apps out there, but each one of them was built by someone else. What you need is a todo list that is completely customized to your needs and workflow. Airtable is a database program for ordinary people and it puts you in the drivers seat. In this video tutorial, I am going
Connect Airtable to Project Manager Integration
Triggers when a new record is available. Triggers when a new record is available in a view.
How To Use Airtable as a Front End Developer
I came across Airtable at a recent hackathon-esque event, when a fellow developer suggested we use it as a way to store and use our data. I was super into it. For the first time, I felt like: "This is a database for me. This is what I want out of a data storage system."
Migrating from FileMaker to Airtable: Part One
This is a guest post courtesy of database design expert and author Tim Dietrich, an honorary Airtable MVP. To check out the second part of this post, click here. FileMaker users who are exploring Airtable often ask me what’s involved in migrating data from FileMaker to Airtable.
Organize Anything with Airtable: 14+ Database Automations to Try
Imagine you and another chef are preparing a steak dinner for 50 guests. You enter the kitchen with nothing but a butter knife. But your partner's wielding an extra-sharp, top-of-the-line piece of cutlery. They carve up the meat with quick, precise strokes—while you're stuck sawing away.
Moving Airtable to SQL
Out of curiosity, what language/platform/framework does this proprietary plugin run under?
Airtable review: A drop-dead easy relational database management system
Airtable is an online platform for creating, using, and sharing small relational databases.
This article is part of a larger series:
- Modern Enterprise: Why Airtable? The Top 20 Links Worth Your Time
- Modern Enterprise: How Airtable can work for different departments and responsibilities.
- Modern Enterprise: How to organize & collaborate with People around the world with Airtable.
- Modern Enterprise: How to manage & track Processes with Airtable
- Modern Enterprise: How to connect Airtable with anything and create magical automations.
Check Airtable out here!
Disclaimer: We aren’t affiliated with Airtable and nor are we getting anything in return for this, we just love it when there’s awesome new technology out there that solves a number of pain points elegantly.