When MHCNS first looked at Knack they simply wanted an internal data management solution. What they found was a comprehensive application platform that is expanding their revenue and growing their business.

Early in the summer of 2014 Josh Cameron was researching online database systems for his employer Medical Healthcare Network Solutions, a Houston-based provider of tech services for medical-based businesses and private practices.

He needed an internal data management solution — something that could cut through all the spreadsheet confusion and bring clarity to their projects and clients.

A Forbes.com article about online database tools led Josh to give Knack a try.

He quickly got a sense for Knack’s potential and built a comprehensive company portal including project management, a knowledge base, and equipment tracking.

He quickly got a sense for Knack’s potential and built a comprehensive company portal including project management, a knowledge base, and equipment tracking.

We had hundreds of excel sheets that were wasting so much time”, Josh explained. “Our clients were constantly contacting us with the same issue. Knack has allowed us to reinvent ourselves as a company. We have less paper, spreadsheets, and confusion. This has allowed us to have more clients, revenue, and efficiency across the board.

This would be a great Knack success story if it stopped there. But it gets better!

A little more than 6 months later, MHCNS started hiring staff to round out an entire department devoted to building web applications on the Knack platform.

How did Knack go from meeting an immediate data management need into helping develop an entirely new profit center?

Using Knack to build client applications

At the same time Josh was mastering his Knack skills MHCNS had several projects that were in the early planning phases, one of which was a transportation management application for a senior care facility.

The residents at the facility often have several appointments to attend, however, most are not equipped to drive themselves and needed driving coordination. An app was needed to plan and manage these appointments.

Josh knew that the success he had building an internal application could work just as a well for a client application, and believed building the transportation management application with an online database platform like Knack could be a perfect fit.

He started a new app in Knack and in a matter of days had the basic application foundation in place

• Resident Directory
• Appointment Management (Dates, Times, Locations)
• Transportation Schedules (Drivers, Locations, Pick-up/Drop-off times)
• Multi-user access (Role based accessibility to view pertinent data)

Josh pitched the Knack app to the CEO of MHCNS to get the stamp of approval to present to the client. He agreed and the presentation was a complete success — they won the job and completed the application build.

With Knack MHCNS was able to build and deliver the application much faster and at a lower price point than they thought possible.

Knack as an application development platform

Fresh off such a successful project MHCNS started to consider Knack for more applications they were developing.

“How can we build a Knack app for that” has been the CEO’s mantra ever since Josh’s pitch.

MHCNS found that Knack provided multiple advantages as a platform for developing database-driven applications:

• Ultra fast prototyping for client proposals.
• Dependable set of tools that reduced bugs and testing.
• Rapid development for contracted jobs.
• Elimination of 6 month quoting/bidding cycles.
• Significantly lower development expense.

The typical custom software solution process will take 6 months due to ongoing “back and forth” approvals, design changes and re-coding. It will also cost at least $200k in Josh’s market to contract for the development of a full-service, custom web application.

The speed and cost savings are the biggest advantages Knack provides. Josh stressed how important it is to turn projects around quickly but with precise adherence to the client’s requirements:

Knack enables us to build really fast allowing us to prototype quickly when bidding on jobs”, Josh mentioned. “This shows the client very early on how quickly we can develop a fully functional app.

As a result of the rapid development, Josh and his team can prove to the client that they can outperform the competition, and do so with a significantly smaller price tag. They are often saving clients hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Another big advantage is the ability to enable application templates. This further reduces the development time for new businesses that want similar applications. A copy of the template app creates a starting point to tweak and customize as the new customer needs. MCHNS gets to leverage much of the investment in their previous projects.

In today’s business world, promising to deliver on time and budget is not enough. Your business needs to be in position to deliver more quickly AND with better results than the competition. Knack gives Josh this advantage.

Creating new business with Knack

The application for the senior care facility was a complete success, so much so that 5 new companies have requested similar applications from MHCNS.

There are several other new business opportunities for MHCNS developing as a result of their expert implementation and deployment of Knack web applications from CRMs to back office apps,

Josh has had such an influx of new business that they are building out an entire department to focus on web application projects!

Josh cites cost vs. revenue as a key for driving this business growth:

“Knack’s affordability has allowed us to not only grow as a company, but grow tremendously in revenue.”

The bottom line is that Knack has enabled MCHNS to create jobs by growing their web development and custom applications division, realize new business, and gain a leg up on the competition. Not bad results for searching for a internal database solution!