Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, One-Page Project Management Processes (1-page PDF document). Introduction: The Project Management Institute (PMI) ushered in a significant shift with the release of the PMBOK® Guide - Seventh Edition in 2021. While the fundamental definitions of project and project management remained intact, the focus evolved from a process-oriented approach [read more]
Airtable Basics: What Is It and How Do Businesses Benefit from It?
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Airtable offers fantastic features that will benefit most businesses. Although working with databases can be scary, Airtable’s No-Code Tools allow you to work on a relational database using a spreadsheet user interface without learning SQL queries. Because its databases are easy to use and create, anyone can work on them quickly.
Due to its easy-to-use features, Airtable is a valuable tool for big and small businesses. It has robust remote collaboration and project management tools.
Databases can be used to manage tasks such as updating content on numerous channels, managing marketing campaigns, keeping track of and organizing inventories, planning events, tracking bugs, etc. Learning how to set Airtable permissions doesn’t require any special skills.
A helpful selection of pre-made templates for collaboration comes with Airtable. There is a wide variety to choose from, and you can manage practically any project you have. This tool lets you generate any list you need.
It could be a list of sales leads, an employee directory, or a product catalog. Airtable Relational Databases provide a variety of pre-built templates, including:
- Asset and project management
- Vacation planning
- Vendor management and expense planning
- Sales lead tracking
- Inventory management
- CRM for small businesses
- Sales lead tracking
Here are a few benefits that your business could reap from using this tool.
1. Airtable Sync Simplifies Cross-Team Collaboration
Using Airtable as a database makes project management and collaboration easier. Project managers can assign tasks and make everyone aware of what needs to be done to promote accountability. Users can add comments to Airtable to keep track of specific information about their work.
With a single Syncable View that unifies your Teams around a Single Source of Truth with real-time data from many sources, your Teams can stay in sync with Airtable Database Sync. Airtable Sync consolidates Data Sources in an aggregate view to examine and analyze data from multiple inputs at once instead of Teams using various Data Silos on one’s device.
2. Spreadsheet-like Comfort and Power in a Database Tool
The technical demands of reading and extracting data from databases necessitate learning and understanding SQL. Therefore, most business professionals avoid databases. Many prefer spreadsheets for data management. However, they find it difficult to produce useful results when faced with huge datasets.
With its adaptable Relational Data Model, it fills the gap in this situation, meeting the needs and offering a more potent solution. Unlike other database offerings, Airtable uses its easy-to-use user interface, no-code tools, collaborative workflow, and variety of templates to handle projects and automation with ease.
3. Customizable
As a user, you can customize your Airtable rows and columns. For instance, you can change the table view by using it as a floor plan platform. You can view the menu, suppliers, and ingredients in a tabular format.
Whether users want to emphasize certain restrictions, pricing, special courses, or the day deals, the view can be structured in a way that makes sense to them. The user-created view may be incorporated into a website or made available to other users via a link.
4. Extensive Data Tracking
Since Airtable is designed for collaborative use, keeping track of individual tables’ and records’ modifications is essential for maintaining data integrity. Using the thorough log, you can track every edit and determine which collaborators made the changes.
Airtable is a thoughtful and practical solution that may help your organization in various ways. It is not a fad. It may be used as a database, CRM, and even the backend for a simple website. It’s definitely a significant asset to your business operations when used carefully and effectively.
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About Shane Avron
Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.Top 10 Recommended Documents on Project Management
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