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.