"Internal tool" sounds like something a corporation with an IT department has. In practice it's usually one screen that replaces three spreadsheets and a notebook, and it has the most impact in small businesses, because that's where one person usually does the work of three.
This post is about what internal tools really are, the shapes they take, and how to tell it's time for your first one.
What an internal tool is
Software used by your people, not your customers. No marketing, no sign-up, it doesn't have to look like a product. It has one job: to take manual work away.
The difference from off-the-shelf products is that it's built around how you work, not the other way round.
The four shapes they most often take
1. A tool that replaces a spreadsheet
The most common case. There's an Excel sheet something important depends on, it passes between several people and breaks now and then. The tool gives it rules, a change history and access levels.
The signs that it's time are described in when an Excel sheet becomes a burden.
2. A tool that does a repeating job
Something is done every week, the same way, by hand: assembling a report from several sources, converting an export from one system into another's format, printing documents from data.
The document generator for a land surveying office is exactly that: a document that used to be put together by hand now comes out in about ten seconds.
3. A dashboard that shows where things stand
The data exists, but it's scattered. Every Monday someone spends an hour putting together an overview that's out of date by the time it's done.
A dashboard turns that into a screen that's always correct. The value isn't in pretty charts but in decisions being made on today's number.
4. A tool that runs a process
An order, enquiry or request goes through several steps and several people. Without a tool it lives in emails, and things regularly get lost.
The tool keeps track of where everything is, whose turn it is and what's waiting. This touches on what's usually called a CRM, but without the modules you don't need and without per-user fees.
How to tell it's time
You don't need all of these:
- The same data is entered in two places.
- One person is the only one who knows how something works.
- "Where's that thing?" gets asked regularly.
- Retyping mistakes have started happening.
- Someone puts together the same report by hand every week.
- A reply to a customer waits because the data has to be looked up.
- A new employee spends a week learning where everything is.
How much it costs
- A script for one repeating job: €300 – €800.
- A tool with a database and an interface: €800 – €3,000.
- A system that runs part of the business: from €3,000.
The payback maths and what makes a project more expensive are in what goes into the price of automation.
What the maths looks like
You need three numbers: how many hours a month the job takes, what that hour is worth, what the tool costs.
Two hours a week at €15 an hour is €1,440 a year. A €1,000 tool pays for itself in eight months. After that the saving stays, rather than being spent again every year.
The other part is harder to measure: manual work makes mistakes, and a mistake in an order costs more than an hour.
Where to start
The most painful process, not the biggest. The first tool has to show that it pays off, and that's quickest to see on something that bothers everyone.
One process, not all of them at once. A tool that tries to solve everything takes months and usually never finishes.
Settle the process first. If the way you work changes every two months, the tool is built on sand.
Run it alongside what exists, not instead. Two to three weeks of working in parallel show what was missed while it's cheap to fix.
Custom or off the shelf
For standard things (email, accounting, invoicing) take something ready-made. There's no point building what thousands of companies do the same way.
A custom tool makes sense where your way of working is different, because that's exactly what off-the-shelf tools do worst. The per-user maths and the question of who owns the data are in a custom internal tool or a SaaS subscription.
Ownership and what happens afterwards
The code is yours. No per-user fees, no subscription for the tool itself, the data is in your database. If tomorrow you want a different developer, they get the repository and carry on.
For an internal tool this matters more than for a website, because over time it ends up holding what the company knows about its own work.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need someone to maintain it?
Not constantly. A modern stack runs without weekly attention. The first 30 days of support are free, and after that monthly maintenance is agreed based on the size of the tool. It isn't mandatory; the tool works without it.
How long does it take to build?
One to two weeks for a script, three to six weeks for a tool with a database, two to four months for larger systems.
Does the tool work on a phone?
If the work needs it, yes: warehouses and field work are often run from a phone.
What about the data in our existing spreadsheets?
It's moved over, and that's part of the project.
Where to start
List what gets done by hand during the week and how long it takes. That list almost always shows one process that's obviously first in line.
Describe it or see what I've built.