Blog | Betty Blocks

Developing an Innovative, Low-Code Alternative to Sharepoint

Geschreven door Ryan Whitmore | 6/24/21 7:18 AM

A large, national organization concerned with the security of the Netherlands and all its inhabitants, was facing a technical challenge. One that they eventually solved efficiently and quickly, thanks to Betty Blocks' citizen development platform. 

The challenge: building a new, agile landscape 

The organization is currently working with almost 300 active Sharepoint applications, yet none of these offer the required level of flexibility and adaptability. Whilst Sharepoint doesn’t easily support the separation of concerns (Microservices versus FrontEnd), Betty Blocks combined with NFlow does. A proper architecture is essential in the current application landscape and when this organization saw an opportunity to improve, they went for it.  

 


Combining flexibility and stability 

Betty Blocks has worked with this particular organization for some years now. During a brainstorm session, both parties struck upon an idea. What if they replaced their outdated applications with low-code versions, through a combination of Betty Blocks and a microservice that regulates business processes? Working like this would combine the best of both worlds, resulting in both flexibility and stability for the long term. 

Learning and developing 

They decided to act fast. For a month, a team of the organizations’ own developers focused on the idea. They combined their in-house technical skills with Premium Development Support from Betty Blocks. Their team taught themselves to develop with the Betty Blocks platform and could fall back on 24/7 support from a dedicated consultant, should they need it. 

After just four week-long sprints, they had built a concept of a new application that could replace one of the old Sharepoint applications. The organization's experience stands as a great example of starting small and seeing results fast. 

Developing fast and having fun 

The team estimates that by (re)developing the application with Betty Blocks, they are able to work 2-4 times faster than simply updating the Sharepoint application would have allowed. However, equally as important is the fun the team had during the development process. They found the time spent developing in the Betty Blocks Page Builder to be an enjoyable experience, and particularly appreciated the speed and ease of the platform, as well as the support received from Betty Blocks. When developers are engaged and have fun, it shows in the final result.

Following a successful month, the organization is now investigating when and how the next applications can be replaced.

Want to discover how to achieve similar results with Betty Blocks? Schedule a demo based on your business case, or experience the platform with a free guided trial.