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Can a Low-Code Platform Be Truly Free?

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The language commonly used to describe commercially available software can often seem highly technical and complicated. It can be somewhat tricky for average users to decipher and understand. Therefore, many users may not truly understand the meaning of a low-code, open-source platform and what exactly it entails. Although many platforms may advertise themselves as completely open-source, some of these programs are open-core platforms.

Open-source application platforms are defined as software that is entirely free to use and allows users to utilize the complete functionality and features of the program. However, an open-core application platform is defined as one which provides a specific set of features and functionality for free, with users having to pay to upgrade to a paid version of the platform to avail of the program’s full functionality.

Therefore, Planet Crust’s open-source, low-code software is completely free and allows users to take advantage of a wide variety of features without requiring them to upgrade to a paid, commercialized version of the platform.

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Crust releases Corteza 2021.9, including internationalization, Integration Gateway and much more.

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Cork, Ireland, 11 October 2021.

Crust Technology, the driving force behind the open-source low-code platform Corteza, is excited to announce a new major release: Corteza 2021.9. This release adds loads of new functionality to Corteza. Highlights of this release are added support for internationalization, an Integration Gateway, a new reporting tool, the ability to export and import complete applications create with the low-code platform and an improved UI.

New features and improvement in Corteza 2021.9

Added support for internationalization

Corteza 2021.9 allows you to translate the user interface and any low-code application you build, including locale-specific numbers and date-time formatting. Once translated, the user can select his/her preferred language in the user settings, and use Corteza in their own language. Corteza can have multiple languages activated, which means that each user can see Corteza in their own language, even though they are working in the same app.

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Why Are Workflows Important?

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Workflows are crucial for maintaining a systematic sequence of administrative and organizational processes from initiating a project to completion. 

It can help streamline and automate repetitive and time-consuming day-to-day organizational tasks. Which will help improve your business’s efficiency and productivity. 

Clearly defined workflows have a wide variety of benefits that can aid employees to perform their duties more productively. It helps managers with decision-making and provides cross-departmental collaboration opportunities.

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Why Do Teachers Prefer Smart Schools?

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A smart school is defined as the use of advanced equipment and digital technology in classrooms to enhance the overall educational environment and learning experience.

This includes using education management systems and mechanisms such as video projectors, digital note-taking tools and cloud-based database storage. The global smart learning market is expected to reach a value of $56.5 billion by the year 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.5%.

With the rise of remote learning, smart schools are becoming a more and more vital aspect of providing a satisfactory academic experience. Smart schools can fundamentally and successfully remove geographical, technological and digital barriers to expanded and diverse educational and learning opportunities. Read more

What is the Role of a Citizen Developer?

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The power of technology has always rested in the hands of those who understand it. But with new innovations in the field of software development, that dynamic is changing. Low-code and no-code tools are now giving people from non-technical backgrounds, to create complex applications independently with minimal training.

A citizen developer is a person who typically comes from a non-engineering background and builds applications with the help of IT-sanctioned low-code and no-code platforms. Citizen development is slowly becoming a crucial department for companies as the need for unique user-centric apps is growing. According to a survey, almost 84% of respondents said they wanted to see their companies do more to encourage citizen development.

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What Is an All-Hands Meeting?

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An all-hands meeting is defined as an organization-wide meeting where all employees and senior management gather to share significant sales and business profitability updates, align current company operations with future goals and objectives, celebrate achievements on both an organizational and individual basis and allow employees to raise concerns and ask questions.

All-hands meetings are extremely beneficial for helping your employees become more personally invested in your organization and its goals and objectives. When employees personally invest in the companies’ goals, their productivity levels increase. Read more

What Is Google I/O?

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Although it was cancelled in 2020 due to the onset of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Google I/O is set to take place virtually from May 18th to May 20th. And, this year the conference will be open to all attendees, free of cost.

Google I/O is an annual developer conference where anyone who is interested in obtaining significant information regarding product releases, hardware and software advances, and overall technological updates can attend. Attendees can expect to have access to various different informative workshops, question and answer forums and keynote speaker sessions.

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Crust releases Corteza 2021.3, including a new visual workflow builder

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Cork, Ireland, 6 April 2021.

Crust Technology, the driving force behind the open-source low-code platform Corteza, is excited to announce a new major release: Corteza 2021.3. The highlights of this release are a visual drag-and-drop workflow editor, a new UI, a template editor and authentication improvement.

New features and improvement in Corteza 2021.3

Corteza Workflow

The new workflow editor enables users to automate simple and complex processes, without the need for programming knowledge. It’s based on BPMN 2.0 standards, and easy and fast to use. Simply drag and drop the elements you need on the canvas, configure and connect them. Main features include:

  • Unlimited workflows anywhere in Corteza
  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Zoom in, zoom out and move the canvas
  • Single or multiple start points (triggers)
    • On create, update or delete
    • On a manual interaction (a click on a button, such as “Covert this lead”)
    • On a scheduled interval (for example, every day at 1 am)
    • On a set date and time (you can define multiple “timestamps” for the same trigger)
  • Expressions (interact with values in your workflow. For example: calculate the grand total of a quote)
  • Functions (list of predefined functions, such as find records create a new record, find a template, send an email etc)
  • Iterators (loop through a list of records)
  • Error-handling
  • Gateways (check a value and continue with the workflow in the desired path)
  • Delay (pause the workflow at a certain point for a set time)
  • User interactions:
    • Alerts (for example, a confirmation message on the screen)
    • Choice prompt (select one of the two buttons. For example, yes and no)
    • Single input (ask the user for a value that the user can type in)
    • Option select (ask the user to select a value from a list)
  • Testing and debugging tools

Extensive documentation on workflows has been created, explaining each feature in great detail. This documentation also provides useful examples.

New UI

In collaboration with experts from the Dutch Accessibility Foundation, significant changes have been made to the UI. The fully responsive design follows the WCAG standard compliance (World Content Accessibility Guidelines), which makes Crust the leading innovator in accessibility in the Low-Code sector.

Template Editor

The new template editor allows you to define the generic document structure (such as a welcome email message or a quote PDF), which is then converted into an actual document based on the provided data. Templates are written in HTML and allow placeholders, functions and conditional rendering. After creating templates they can be rendered in Corteza workflow.

Authentication

This release comes with an OAuth2 server with Authorization code and client credentials flows. All authentication interfaces used by Corteza can now fully be modified and styled to your needs. Personalization is performed by defining a series of templates and assets (e.g. images and JavaScript code). This allows you to make the authentication screen match the company style guide.

Messaging Changes

Support for a Matrix-based federated messaging solution will be provided as of Corteza version 2021.6. The goal is to align with Corteza Record Federation, ensuring that using organisations can create richer, federated relationships, not limited to static records only. In preparation for this, the legacy Corteza Messaging solution has now been deprecated.

Other changes

  • Upgraded to Go 1.16
  • Removed obsolete asset embedding and move to //go:embed
  • Messaging code and endpoints removed
  • OAuth2 server with Authorization code and client credentials flows
  • Compose record federation now supports Activity Stream protocol
  • Codebase cleanup and removed With(ctx) anti-pattern
  • Added Envoy file encoders (export support)
  • Fixed UserBeforeUpdate/UserBeforeDelete
  • Auth web application is now deprecated

View the full changelog.

How to install Corteza

You can follow the local setup instructions for a local development or demonstration instance of Corteza. If you are looking for setting up a live deployment, check out the extensive production setup instructions. If you have questions, you can engage with other community members on the Corteza forum.

How to upgrade your Corteza instance

To upgrade your instance to the latest version of Corteza, please check out our Upgrade Guide.

Online demo

Crust Technology has an online demo available of this latest release. In it, you can try out the Low-Code platform, build your own apps, try out the existing apps (such as the CRM or Service Solution)  and much more.

Screenshots

 

What is customer retention?

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Every company wants to grow, and an important aspect of business growth is customer retention. Just a 5% boost in customer retention can increase a company’s profits by 25% to 95%. With such high returns of investment, it is no wonder that companies are investing in the best customer retention tools and strategies they can find.

Customer retention, by definition, refers to how much power a company has over retaining its customers, i.e. making the customers come back to do business with it. A company with a high customer retention rate continues to grow and get bigger as they take in more customers. Read more

What is Sales Methodology?

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Undoubtedly, sales is the fuel that keeps a business going, no matter how small or big it is. Every organization strives for a positive sales graph. The fact that businesses are spending over one trillion dollars annually on their sales forces, including sales support software, underlines its importance.

Therefore, it is a no-brainer that there is a need for impeccable sales plans to successfully stride ahead in this technology-driven corporate world. A digital solution like Crust’s open-source Salesforce Alternative can be a catalyst in attaining your business goals efficiently. It makes your sales methodology digitally sound and streamlines the sales process in an optimized manner.

But for that, you need to be clear about the basics of sales methodology and how it can help your organization. Ready to delve into it? Let’s go! Read more