February 2021 Summaries

Building internal tools collaboratively can be challenging, but integrating Retool with Cord offers a streamlined solution by enabling direct communication and task management within the apps being used. Retool facilitates the rapid creation of internal applications, while Cord allows for comments, annotations, and guides directly within these apps, enhancing teamwork without the need for external communication platforms. Cord's integration with Slack and project management tools like Jira and Asana simplifies task creation and management, ensuring a seamless workflow. Additionally, Cord's Chrome extension provides an easy setup process, allowing users to start annotating and collaborating immediately. This integrated approach not only improves efficiency and onboarding processes but also reduces the need for cumbersome communication methods, making it easier for internal ops teams to log edge cases and share information effectively.

CommonBond, a company focused on simplifying the student loan process, utilizes advanced internal processes and technology to streamline operations and improve user experience. Backend software developer Sascha Strand plays a crucial role in automating and simplifying backend processes, which are essential for creating a seamless customer experience. The company faced challenges in automating the loan disbursement process, which initially required significant manual intervention by developers. Sascha and his team addressed this issue by implementing Retool, a tool that allows the operations team to handle updates efficiently without developer involvement, thus reducing errors and improving response times. This innovation not only enhances data security and operational efficiency but also empowers the ops team to manage user information confidently, ultimately leading to faster and more reliable service for customers.

CommonBond, an online lender, has significantly improved its operations by empowering its operations team through the use of Retool, a platform that allows for easy app development with basic SQL knowledge. Luke Lavanway, Director of Lending Operations and Analytics at CommonBond, recognized that operations teams often have valuable insights but are hindered by technical barriers. By introducing Retool and offering educational resources, such as Udacity and Coursera, CommonBond equipped its ops team to independently develop solutions, leading to increased efficiency and innovation. An example of this is the transformation of the forbearance process, which was streamlined from a labor-intensive 30-minute task to a quick two-minute operation by developing a Retool app. This approach not only improved operational efficiency but also provided ops employees with career growth opportunities and allowed technical teams to concentrate on strategic projects, ultimately enhancing customer experiences and business outcomes.