AppSheet

BACKGROUND

Can you please provide a brief description of your company and the role that you play there?

My business background is in proprietary databases from a corporate and a financial reporting perspective. I'm retired now. 

CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge your company was facing that initiated the need for this platform?

My church was looking for an affordable database software. Annually, we have an event where about 1,200 people come together and we do about 60 different service projects. They can range from construction, teaching children arts and crafts, to yard work; all sorts of different things. There is a church membership sign up for different projects and it is very difficult to manage all the different moving pieces and we needed a way to do it.

SOLUTION

How does your company implement this platform or software?

I've used AppSheet for personal use but my initial use of AppSheet was to help with a big service project for my church. We used it at the very minimum this past year but next year we are going all out with AppSheet.

Was your company considering other platforms? Why this platform?

I’ve always been interested in database software. I've always wanted to find a database software that was useable and quick to learn, and AppSheet is just that. I found AppSheet about 3 weeks before our service project this past year. It was in early June and I was scrambling to try to put all the information together in the right format, and learn the software to be able to make it useful.

On an annual or monthly basis, how much does your company spend to utilize the platform?  

AppSheet didn't cost much at all because we only rolled it out for a few people. We have a leadership team that does a lot of the planning and that sort of thing. We probably spent less than $20 since we are a nonprofit, and we also used it for a short period of time, so we didn't have it the whole year. We deployed it to a few people that needed it and then we scaled our use back for the times when we didn't need it as much. Next year we are looking at rolling it out to all of our project leads. That's 60-70 people that haven't been exposed to it before. 

RESULTS

Can you share any success, metrics, or overall results of your implementation of this platform?

Bottom line is that I really can’t say enough nice things about AppSheet - they have a great product with new features added almost weekly, a supportive and responsive team, sample apps, documentation and videos to help newcomers get started, affordable price points, and a worldwide community of users helping users and becoming friends in the process.

FEATURES

Were there any software features/tools that you were really impressed by?   

The whole spreadsheet concept is very simple to understand and to maintain for people that aren't very technical. AppSheet has made so many improvements since June. I was communicating to the AppSheet team the other day that I thought I had been using AppSheet longer than I have been using it because they have put so many upgrades in the last few months. I've only been using it for about 6 months and the upgrades are constant. I love the new “show if”, “valid if” feature. They just added the dependent drop downs recently. Those features are great. They are adding a lot more too and it’s just more and more robust. They started out with making sure that they had the basics and now they are adding a lot more things that you can do. I don’t know if I can tell you all the features I like. 

Looking back, are there any areas of the software that you feel could be added or improved upon?  

The one feature that I want and I believe it’s in the plans for the next few months, is “in line” edit. That’s the feature that I am really looking forward to.

Have you had to interact with the platform’s support team or reference their support resources?

The AppSheet team is very supportive. They’re very responsive and they really want to help everyone get the most they can out of AppSheet. There are over 1500 members in the online community. That’s another one of the nice things about AppSheet, it feels like you are friends with people all over the world. We’re all helping each other - Russia, Brazil, California, Florida and even Turkey. We all work together on helping each other be more productive with AppSheet. AppSheet has a great Zendesk user guide and sample apps. So in addition to their awesome support team, users can look to these resources for information. I regularly monitor the Google+ AppSheet User Community and all forum questions are answered, and the AppSheet Team makes sure that users understand the answers. It is obvious that the AppSheet team really values its users. This fact is also evident in that AppSheet is receptive to customer feature requests and includes them where possible in their development schedule.

OVERVIEW

To sum up: We have a few quick questions, and for each question we ask you to rate the software on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best.

What would you give the software for functionality of the features available?

Four and a half. I haven’t compared it to other app builders.

What would you give the software for ease of use or ease of implementation into your business?

Three and a half. For me it’s fine but for other people it's not as easy. It’s just because you have to know how to format your formulas. Your formulas have to be just right for it to work. Someone who is not technical may not use the features as robustly, they’ll have to look at the user guide.

For support, as in responsiveness of the team or helpfulness of the resources available?

Five.

Overall, satisfaction with the platform?

Five. I don't think any software or anything in this world is perfect. What I would say is that AppSheet has the best balance of great software and functionality. You can quickly turn it around and the price point is affordable and they have a very great support team and an active community. 

How likely are you to recommend the software to a colleague or similar business?

Five. I recommended them already. I tell everybody. If you haven’t tried AppSheet yet, you really should. It’s awesome!

BACKGROUND

Can you please provide a brief description of your company and the role that you play there?

I’m working to build a business around AppSheet users. AppSheet is a do-it-yourself app development software. I currently have a portfolio of 10 to 15 apps. I personally use AppSheet for managing a lot of my financial holdings. I’m hoping that as my business grows, I will continue to use AppSheet to manage and run my business as well to do invoicing and relationship management. 

CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge your company was facing that initiated the need for this platform?

A lot of times people don’t have the right background to build an app or effectively use AppSheet, in terms of user experience design, app design, or the intricacies of using the app in the field. Sometimes they need consultants or developers to help them build a better app. 

SOLUTION

How does your company implement this platform or software?

My idea was to build a consulting business around AppSheet and I’ve been doing that for about six months. Initially, it was pretty slow because you need to have a large number of AppSheet customers that are building apps and facing issues. It’s picking up gradually. I have very few customers but I think that it’s a growing business.

Was your company considering other platforms? Why this platform?

I came across a few other app builders. The main one I was considering was called AppGyver. The reason I chose AppSheet was because of its simplicity and its ability to be changed quickly. You can redefine how your app looks or how your tables are structured, how your columns are accessed and how you attach photos. Using very simple options, you can automate a lot of things including barcode scanning. Another reason I chose AppSheet is because of its comprehensive capabilities without having to do a lot of coding and without having to know anything about how to launch an app. AppSheet does a lot of user testing on their end on both the iOS and Android platforms. A lot of the typical development steps are cut out of the process. 

On an annual or monthly basis, how much does your company spend to utilize the platform?  

It’s very minimal right now. If you use premium features like the workflow it can be more expensive.

The cost per app is $10 a month. Up to 100 users at $10 a month is really cost effective. 

FEATURES

Were there any software features/tools that you were really impressed by? I would say it is AppSheet’s filtering option where you can say “don’t show me all the data just this particular subset of data.” They make it really easy to specify the subset and how it’s calculated. Being able to base the display within the app on a particular column or a particular value in a column is helpful. I think the feature set it definitely getting more complex. It used to be very simple. 

Are there any areas of the software that you feel could be added or improved upon?  

Push notifications would be number one on my list. If you have a team of people that are using the same app and they are using it to run their business, when somebody makes a change it is very important that other team members know something is going on. I’m sure they’re going to work on adding them.

Have you had to interact with the platform’s support team or reference their support resources?

I’m constantly on the AppSheet community forums. Many times, if their development team doesn’t answer a question, the other users are knowledgeable enough and can explain how they have tweaked AppSheet to their particular scenario. There’s always somebody to help out on your issue. The community is growing too. I reach out to their support once a week, whether it’s on how to do something or a capability that I would like to see added.

One suggestion for improvement is with documentation, it’s still a bit lacking. I believe they only have one or two people doing documentation whereas there are four or five people improving the platform and coding. That’s an issue for them right now, but I think they’re going to address it as they add more people. The community is engaged on a daily basis; I would say there are 10 to 15 core members. We are constantly chatting on the forums.

OVERVIEW

To sum up: We have a few quick questions, and for each question we ask you to rate the software on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best.

What would you give the software for functionality of the features available?

Four. If you have a spreadsheet, you can do a lot of things with AppSheet. AppSheet easily integrates with Google and the scripting capabilities give you a lot of power. 

What would you give the software for ease of use or ease of implementation into your business?

Five.

For support, as in responsiveness of the team or helpfulness of the resources available?

Four and a half.

Overall, satisfaction with the platform?

Four and a half.

How likely are you to recommend the software to a colleague or similar business?

Five. I would recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone.