The moment a spreadsheet is no longer enough
The signs are always the same. Two people edit the same row at the same time. Nobody knows which version is authoritative. One column contains dates, text and empty cells. And it takes thirty minutes to produce a figure management asks for every week.
What is decided in the modelling
The decisive phase is not the setup, it is the modelling: which tables, which links between them, which field is unique. Rushed modelling produces a base that will have to be rebuilt within a year. So we spend time on it before entering the first row.
The views, which make the tool get adopted
One table can be presented differently depending on who is looking: a salesperson sees their open deals, a director sees the monthly total, a production manager sees what is due this week. That is what makes a tool used rather than endured.
The limits, better known beforehand
Airtable slows down on large volumes. It is not built for tens of thousands of rows with heavy calculations. And its billing follows the number of users, which changes the equation as soon as a whole team has access. We tell you during framing, not afterwards.
When we recommend something else
If your data is sensitive and must stay with you, if the volume is large, or if the business rules are complex, a bespoke development costs more at the start and less over five years. We do that calculation with you.
