How Wishbone Site Furnishings Unified Workflows and Scaled Beyond Spreadsheets

It’s been reported that nearly 90 percent of small to midsized businesses (SMBs) still run critical operations on spreadsheets, a tool invented for accountants in the 1980s, not for managing modern businesses.

Later, as databases increased in popularity, they became the domain of IT departments.

The problem? Many SMBs still rely on spreadsheets to document and run everything from inventory to manufacturing orders to CRM to sales, not to mention project management. However, spreadsheets were never designed to serve as full-fledged data management platforms. When used in this manner, spreadsheets quickly become limiting, inefficient, and prone to errors.

There's so much for a business to manage, but many continue to shy away from expensive CRM or ERP software, citing reasons as a lack of clear strategy, poor user buy-in, the complexity of the software itself, and the fear that it might replace intuitive, albeit disorganized, workarounds.

Today, affordable no-code tools are putting powerful data management platforms in the hands of SMBs with limited IT budgets, knowledge, skills and staff.

New self-service, modern databases can help companies run more efficiently by unifying workflows, automating processes, and digitizing operations. In fact, SMBs that switch from spreadsheets to modern databases can run leaner, scale faster, and make smarter decisions in real time.

That is what Canadian manufacturer Wishbone Site Furnishings found out after 20 years of being in business. As the company flourished, so did the complexity of managing it.

Founded in 1995, Wishbone has specialized in crafting a wide range of outdoor furnishings, including benches, picnic tables, waste receptacles, bike racks, bollards, planters, and even outhouse buildings. With a focus on durability and longevity, each product is built to withstand all weather conditions and deliver a life expectancy of more than 25 years in North America.

Wishbone became beloved and successful for its dedication to creating environmentally sustainable products that helped create a following for the company. But then it all came down to a key moment in 2018, when it realized it needed to address the one thing that was holding the business back: manual workflows.

Imagine everything, everywhere, not integrated.

Here was the issue: Wishbone was dependent on disparate spreadsheets that weren't being properly integrated or automated. For instance, the company had different spreadsheets for each of its workflows, from inventory to purchase orders, sales orders, and quotes. While the spreadsheets themselves weren't faulty, Wishbone was using these instead of a database that could pull all of the company’s processes and information into one centralized hub and automate many manual processes.

As such, data entry became a significant part of the workload for several full-time employees. For instance, the accountant had to manually tidy up the scattered data from many sheets and transfer it into Sage. The production team didn’t have a bill of materials (BOM) — it used a physical binder with handwritten notes. And finally, the purchasing process required manually searching for product codes, old purchase orders, and previous invoices to check past pricing.

The production manager found that he was spending too much time on small but tedious tasks, such as manually emailing customers when orders were ready, which included copying and pasting order details from the scattered sales order and manually searching for the right ready-product images.

Eight years ago, Wishbone hired production manager Peter Teichroeb to change its ways from siloed spreadsheets to an integrated database that could improve efficiency for the company.

The issue? Until Wishbone could automate processes, the company could well be stymied. Peter was tasked to automate the business, along with the general manager. How Wishbone used to operate caused slowness within the business, making it almost impossible to scale.

Peter built the Wishbone database from a self-service no-code platform called Ragic, and ensured that all processes from inventory, CRM, production, accounting, and more were integrated into the database. This allowed everyone to have a role in operating parts of the database for their work.

For instance, sales and production processes became seamless as quotes were quickly converted into sales orders, which then automatically generated work orders, purchase orders, and invoices — all at the click of a button.

What is a Database Really?

Before we go further, let’s discuss what a database can do. Most people have an idea, but here's a review: A database is an organized collection of structured information stored electronically for efficient access, management and retrieval. At its simplest, it might look like an address book, but at scale, databases can manage enormous volumes of information across sales, customer records, inventory, financial transactions, and even real-time web content.

Databases are the backbone of modern digital experiences. They power everything from online banking and e-commerce to logistics systems and social media platforms. Today’s databases enable businesses to connect disparate data sources, enforce data integrity, and automate workflows. They allow teams to query information instantly, generate reports, and uncover insights that drive smarter decision-making.

Here's how Peter was able to automate many of Wishbone’s processes with its new no-code database:

• Accounting in Real Time: Real-time accounting updates became available and easy. As the database became the primary system, the manual spreadsheet data was also taken out of the accountant's hands. This helped the accountant to have visibility into historical pricing, incoming payments, and expected revenue over the next 60 days to 90 days, all automated, without the inconvenience of two separate systems.
• Production Management Became More Efficient: The factory team shares a single laptop. When assigned a task, they can now check work orders and BOMs, start production, and mark the task completed. This enables the production manager to receive a notification and update the sales order as completed with a click, which automatically adjusts and updates inventory. 
• Streamlined Customer Communication: The team at Wishbone used to manually email customers when an order was ready. Not anymore. The database enabled that process to be completely automated. Now, there’s a “send custom email” button on the sales order sheet. When the packaging team finishes their tasks, they can simply upload product images through the mobile app to a sheet linked to the sales order sheet via a multiple versions relationship. With this setup, the system automatically sends an email to the customer with order details and product images. What does the production manager need to do? Just click one button.

The Results: 6x Revenue Growth in 5 Years

The ceasing of manual workloads and the creation of a modern database changed everything for Wishbone. The three employees doing mostly data entry shifted into more impactful roles in production.

But the biggest impact? Revenue growth times six, in five years. As Peter puts it, "We had that consistency. We had the information and we could act upon it. Thanks to the benefits and the implementation of a no-code database, it allows us to grow that quickly."

Jeff Kuo is the CEO of Ragic, a no-code database builder.