We did everything that needed to be done without hiring a developer. But Xano is also scalable, so I will be able to continue using it even after the business gets to the point where we can hire a team of developers to run our technology and our application.
Background
Having worked for many years as a server and server trainer, Kevin had seen the impact that detailed performance tracking can have on a hotelier’s ability to improve. “Service staff members need to realize that they are essentially running their own businesses,” Kevin says. “To maximize their revenue, they need to know their numbers and then use these metrics to continue to develop their skills.”
When Kevin couldn’t find a ready-to-use system that went beyond simply tracking his tips, he used spreadsheets to get detailed information about his own performance as a hotelier. His idea for the app was to take those spreadsheets and “put them on steroids” to give bartenders and hoteliers the data they need to improve their performance and make more money.
The challenge
Because he couldn’t afford to hire a developer, Kevin knew he was going to have to take a do-it-yourself approach to developing the application.
“As a technician,” says Kevin, “I can design an application. But I’m not a coder. I found a no-code platform for the front-end of the application, but I wasn’t satisfied with the database function that came with this platform. So I started looking for something more powerful to run the backend of the application.”
Kevin really did his research, because he understood that once he started building on one platform, it would take a lot of work to switch to another.
Solution
When Kevin learned about Xano’s no-code back-end platform, he immediately realized that this was the solution he was looking for.
“My biggest fear when looking for a platform,” Kevin shares, “was commitment. But I didn’t have that fear with Xano, because I saw that not only does it have great depth in terms of functionality, but it also has virtually unlimited scalability.”
When Kevin dove into using Xano, he really appreciated how Xano empowers non-developers to do the work themselves. In addition to participating in the Xano user forum, Kevin also contacted the Xano customer support team when necessary and watched the numerous YouTube Q&A videos posted by the customer support team.
Results
Within a month, Kevin had his APP up and running on Xano in a way that greatly improved the speed and user experience of the application’s user interface.
“Xano is extremely powerful but very simple to use,” Kevin explains. “Plus, you can choose how powerful you want it to be. You can use Xano as a simple database or build a complete technology platform on it.”
Kevin chose to take advantage of some of Xano’s more complex capabilities and use them as the “brains” of the application. When a server enters data about a shift, Xano does all the calculations, including the extraction of external data. In milliseconds, it sends the results to the front-end to be displayed to the user.
“With Xano,” Kevin concludes, “I can do everything I need to do without hiring a developer. But it’s so scalable that I’ll be able to keep using it even after my business gets to the point where I can hire a team of developers to run our technology and our application.”
