Anyone can use Airtable and everyone should try.
March 29, 2018
Anyone can use Airtable and everyone should try.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Airtable
We use Airtable primarily to collect, organize and act on student enrollment, as well as a hiring system. We also utilize it as a primary contact database and project management tool. Some secondary uses include event planning and planning in general, inventory management, marketing campaign building, and employee on-boarding. We continue to find more and more ways to centralize all of our activity within Airtable. We also utilize Zapier as an interface/automation system for moving data between systems.
Pros
- Airtable is a powerhouse when it comes to collecting and organizing all kinds of data. This includes anything from project and event planning and management, to a simple CRM. You honestly have to build as little or as much as you need.
- Airtable is also a powerhouse when it comes to integration. We have the ability to connect nearly all of the different services and systems we use to it, in order to simplify, and in most cases, automate our tasks and processes.
- Airtable has recently become a fantastic way to collect, analyze and report on data as well. With their new Blocks integration, you can create all kinds of data reporting tools, along with many others built right in. I am particularly excited about this, because I know more is to come.
Cons
- Airtable is a great project management tool, which is my primary use for it, but it does lack on particular feature, that I know will be addressed at some point. I am in great need of a way to nest tasks within a task line item. It has become very difficult to create a large scale project plan and be able to see the grand large picture of the project, but also drill down into the details. Creating a field option for subtasks would help pull related tasks, or steps within a task, to allow for this.
- Airtable is great when it comes to integration, but the problem we run into as a non-profit, is that most of the automation comes from another service, which is another cost. I would love to see them develop some sort of integration in-house, or work with Zapier to offer a discounted plan when you sign-up for both of their services.
- Airtable handles linking of records well, but another problem we run into, is the inability to link items within a separate base. An example of the goal for us here, would be to have the ability to create a centralized database of contacts, that can be linked to several other processes, like a separate on-boarding base, or a project or event plan. Without this, we end up with redundant data in several bases with no centralized place to look for what is needed at any given time.
- Productivity is an easy place to start with ROI. The quickest and easiest way for us to see our ROI with Airtable is the ability to handle large processes and task very quickly and easily, and in many cases with automation. We have specifically seen this within our hiring and application process, where an applicant fills out the form on our website, and after submission, it lands in Airtable where it gets worked through the process.
- Still on productivity, we have seen great impact on management the project plan for the launch of our founding school in Philadelphia. We have been utilizing Airtable to task plan each step of the process for launching the school from vision to building.
- There has been a bit of negative impact due to limitations of the tool. Specifically the task planning an inability to nest task within the project. We have also had a few issues with the lack of the ability to link records between bases, which would help centralize data better.
Airtable is much easier to use than any of these applications. The only features that give it competition are nesting tasks within a project, which Asana does well, as well as Trello and Flow. Airtable is also very flexible in terms of capability. The only completion there is Google Sheets, which is must more difficult to use overall, and not very user friendly or visually appealing. Airtable has endless uses, while these other applications are generally found only in the project and task management world.
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