Knack’s Top 10 No-code Apps to Transform Your Data and Your Business

In 2022, we witnessed the continuing acceleration of digital transformation as businesses adapt to an increasingly online world and the post-pandemic reality of enabling the productivity of remote workers.

Knack’s no-code platform gives businesses simple, intuitive tools to empower them to build and customize the apps needed for efficient operations and business growth. And to make it even easier, Knack’s no-code app templates offer a ready-made foundation to speed the process of building agile and scalable apps to match your unique use cases and workflows. 

According to Gartner, “Digital business acceleration is putting pressure on IT leaders to dramatically increase application delivery speed and Time to Value.” It goes on to note that this challenge is being tackled by a new wave of citizen developers, enabled by the rise in low-code solutions. Gartner finds, “on average, 41% of employees outside of IT – or business technologists – customize or build data or technology solutions.”

Here’s a rundown of the Top 10 Knack no-code apps that get the right data to users at the right time—and deliver the insights needed for better decision-making to drive customer satisfaction and business growth.

1. Contact Directory

Managing your business contacts and customer communications is crucial for every business operation. An efficient contact directory improves your organization’s productivity, saves time, and reduces the risks of errors or oversights in managing customer relationships.

Knack’s contact directory organizes all communications and interactions in one central location, making it simple for your team members to access information about clients and leads, and keep everyone on the same page when it comes to communication and follow-up. Small and medium-sized organizations can track contacts, phone calls, emails, and appointments, and upload important documents or images for reviewing milestones and status.

All contact data is kept safe in a password-protected online database, and you can group contacts by company. Search and filter tools are at your fingertips. The no-code Builder lets you quickly customize your app to display and manage your contacts.

You decide the top-level details displayed for each contact and a simple click lets you view a contact’s details including notes, reminders and status. There’s even a map function to show all businesses geographically and easily get directions. 

Centralizing this information in one place gives important trend-spotting insights to better understand customers and prospects and tailor your marketing and sales efforts to the needs of your audience—and drive business growth.

Get started with the Contact Directory no-code app template >>

2. Custom CRM

Is your current Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) delivering the information and insights you need? The right CRM is critical to tracking and managing your contacts, leads and customers as they move through your sales pipeline. It should give you insights to optimize engagement and improve the customer experience throughout the relationship lifecycle—ultimately, driving growth and customer delight.

According to Deloitte, a CRM makes a direct contribution to your bottom line by increasing sales, lead conversion, customer satisfaction, and revenue. There are many powerful (and expensive) options available (i.e Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics), but often they are too complex for an organization that wants to start slow and incrementally evolve functionality as they scale.

Knack’s Custom CRM app gives you no-code tools to break free from the limitations imposed by pre-built software. Instead of forcing your workflows into a rigid one-size-fits-all framework, you determine how to structure and manage your customer relationships. Build custom lifecycles around your unique customer journey.

Track only the deal and customer data relevant to your business and assign user roles and permissions that link customers to reps. Each rep’s view is curated to see only their own customers and deals. Assign tasks and meetings, and create powerful workflows with automated email reminders, notifications and approvals to keep your team on track.

Get started with the Custom CRM no-code app template >>

3. Customer Portal

Whether building a customer portal is still a nagging item on your to-do list, or your current solution doesn’t meet the needs of your business, Knack’s Customer Portal lets you quickly and easily customize your portal to match specific customer requirements and workflows.

Still, wondering if a customer portal is necessary? Forrester “finds that two-thirds of customers say valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.” Access to a secure, self-service portal where customers log in to view past services, submit new service requests, check for status updates, find invoices, and add or update their information, is a top time-saving tool.

And in a true win-win fashion, Forrester also notes that a customer portal reduces operational costs while increasing conversion and customer satisfaction. 

With Knack’s customer portal, you securely store all data in one place. Each customer only sees their own information. Whether you serve medical patients, students, and faculty, are managing warranty holders, or something else, Knack has you covered with an easy-to-customize app. You can even extend the functionality by sending your technicians an email when a new service request is submitted. Or email customers a friendly reminder when their invoice is due.

Just be sure to understand the business model for portals before you jump in…If you have many hundreds of thousands of end users who need to access the portal, user-based licensing will be cost-prohibitive. Choose a solution that meters on data rather than users, or even limited users, so that you can scale over time.

Get started with the Customer Portal no-code app template >>

4. Property Management

Whether managing residential, commercial or industrial properties, it’s a role that requires you to wear many hats. According to iProperty Management, a property manager’s time is split across many activities including rent and fee collection, maintenance and repairs, advertising and leasing, inspections, and financial reporting.

Relying on inefficient paper-based processes is time-consuming and takes away from higher-value activities that directly increase revenue and return on investment (ROI).

Knack’s Property Management app streamlines workflows, eliminating time spent shuffling through binders and spreadsheets to find, analyze and update the information you need. Prospective tenants submit rental applications embedded in your company website. And property managers simply log in to view, add and edit properties, units, and tenants. Other stakeholders in operational roles such as maintenance, accounting, invoicing, or even equipment and asset management can view relevant information, as needed.

You can add a portal for tenants to submit service requests, pay rent, and view their lease information. Even enable automated rent-due email reminders and accept payments in-app. All users access one secure system and see only their own relevant data.

Get started with the Property Management no-code app template >>

5. Equipment Tracker

Tired of spending precious work time manually tracking down equipment – figuring out who has it or where it is? Whether you’re tracking physical or non-physical equipment – school photographic or technical equipment, A/V event equipment, or even software subscriptions, Knack’s equipment tracking app will help you streamline operations by managing all your inventory and borrowers in one place.

Create simple forms to manage the checkout process and automate alerts to notify when equipment is checked out or returned. Employees log in and can see exactly what equipment is available. Upon checkout, the item is no longer available to others. Admins manage equipment inventory, see which employee has checked out equipment and view a history log of equipment used to see patterns and gain insights for better inventory management.

Get started with the Equipment Tracker no-code app template >>

6. Event Registration

If you manage the event registration process for your church, community center, club, school, or other nonprofit organization, you know how many moving parts there are to track.

Knack’s event registration app ensures your event is never overbooked, automatically closing registration when capacity is reached. It also makes sure all registration payments are accounted for, making you look good in the process.

Event coordinators add, edit and remove events, specifying capacity and other details. Once posted, users can search event listings, complete the registration process and even pay for the event.

The app is easily customized to any type of training, workshop, conference, or other professional activity, and adding functionality is a snap. Build email notifications and reminders for attendees and even use Knack to manage your vendors, presenters, staff, and other behind-the-scenes coordination.

Get started with the Event Registration no-code app template >>

7. Inventory Manager

A robust inventory management system is at the heart of every business. An inventory management tool is essential, whether you’re managing physical or non-physical goods.

In fact, Accenture reports that leveraging data to improve inventory visibility is one of the top five priorities for businesses to manage around ongoing supply chain disruptions.

Knack’s inventory manager app keeps you on top of current inventory with timely, accurate data. Automatically update existing product levels based on incoming shipment quantities and outgoing orders. Set order alerts that automatically trigger when inventory falls below custom-defined thresholds. And define custom dashboards to get the insight needed to make smart inventory decisions.

Whether users work in a warehouse, on a manufacturing floor, or in an office, they can access your app anywhere they have an internet connection. And the mobile-friendly interface makes on-the-go updates easy. You can even integrate vendors and purchasers into the system for a 360-view solution.

Get started with the Inventory Manager no-code app template >>

8. Member Directory

Managing a member community requires ongoing work to process member applications, update profiles and keep member data secure. That’s where the power of Knack’s member directory app comes in, making it easy to build a custom member directory for your trade organization, local sports club, or business group.

You’re fully in charge of how it works, and your data is always secure. Create admin roles that can access and manage all data, and define user roles that give members read-only access, or let them update and maintain their own profiles.

When approved members log in, they’ll only have access to their own profile data. Customize what information to store, and what information is searchable by members. Even expand functionality with the capability to build out member tiers and charge for community access.

Get started with the Member Directory no-code app template >>

9. Project Management

How many projects do you manage at any given time? Likely, it’s somewhere between a few and overwhelming. Knack’s project management app ensures all your projects, regardless of complexity, are easy to keep on track so they’re delivered on time and under budget.

Build a custom project management app around your unique project needs, minus the bloat of confusing, unnecessary features that come with most project management software.

Knack’s no-code platform lets you track only the project and customer data that’s most relevant to your business. Track milestones, tasks, hours, and costs, and define automated progress triggers for notifications, approvals, and other actions as the project moves through each stage. Project managers can assign tasks to specific employees, and employees can track their individual hours and expenses, making it easy to calculate the total cost of a project.

Get started with the Project Management no-code template app >>

10. Purchase Orders

To ensure the financial health of your business, you’ve got to stay on top of the purchase orders being issued and fulfilled in your organization. Whether you’re a small business, school district, or national company, you need a way to easily and accurately track spending.

Knack’s purchase order app simplifies operations by tracking purchase orders, vendors, and products all in one place. At-a-glance dashboards provide admins and managers with instant insight into order totals for products and vendors and show weekly totals to see spending patterns against budget.

Streamline workflows, defining specific employee roles that can submit and manage purchase orders to be approved by the admins. Eliminate time spent manually checking status by setting automated notifications when new purchase orders are submitted or approved. You can have your purchase order app up and running in no time to take back valuable time in your day and keep budgets in check.

Get started with the Purchase Order no-code app template >> 

Get a Free Trial to Start Building

Get started today with one of these ten Knack no-code apps, and take a look at Knack’s full app template library. We’ve got all the easy-to-build business apps you need, with templates that will speed up and simplify the building process. And check out our getting-started resources to learn more about everything you can accomplish with your data and Knack’s no-code Builder. The possibilities are endless.