Hello Friends,
I invite you to join me in the upcoming four blog posts for an in-depth look at Drinkizz’s digitalization journey. Drinkizz is a wonderful startup that launched the O.N.E drink to keep your energy sustainable, durable, and to keep you fresh and engaged in your daily tasks. Don’t hesitate to taste our O.N.E products, and you’ll find they stand out in a world filled with chemical foods and drinks.
I’ve been working at Drinkizz on digital projects since 2019. Over the years, I’ve seen and helped shape Drinkizz’s digital growth. This series will show how Drinkizz’s digital landscape has changed from 2019 to now.
When we launched the Drinkizz beverage in 2019, we didn’t yet have any IT system, just Excel sheets and a Google Drive. In our business, there is a lot of data to manage: sourcing ingredients, producing the cans and storing them by sales outlets, commercialization, return of goods for recycling, etc. Managing all this with spreadsheets is risky. As soon as production exceeds 10,000 cans per month, data quality and security are compromised. We had to choose a technological strategy to continue our operations. We could either try to keep going with Excel sheets, strengthen our organization, and hope it would hold a bit longer; or set up an ERP; or use pre-built data repositories.
This series will also share our over five years of experience and knowledge in digitalization, offering valuable insights for other SMEs and startups on how to boost their business and productivity using no-code and AI solutions.
Early on, I realized that building an IT system from scratch can be very expensive and hard to manage, especially for new businesses.
2019 – Frustration Phase
In 2019, the company relied heavily on spreadsheets and basic tools like Google Drive for operational data management. While accessible and flexible, these tools quickly showed their limitations: Lack of data linkage and relational structure, High risk of data typing errors and inconsistent records, Poor traceability and version control, Difficulties with access security and user-specific permissions, Not scalable or collaborative for a growing team, …
2020 – Hesitation Phase
By 2020, we considered using an ERP system and looked into cloud-based options. However, the complexity, high cost, and risk of getting stuck with cumbersome processes, combined with our limited IT coding experience, made this less appealing. Additionally, adapting these systems to fit our internal data models was a major challenge.
2021 – 2023 – Optimism Phase
In 2021, we discovered that no-code and AI solutions could be the best choice to enhance our IT system and simplify our processes and operations. We successfully integrated no-code solutions, which offered cost-effectiveness, deployment agility, minimal technical skill requirements, and scalability to support our business growth. These tools came with many advantages: no high costs, no coding skills required, no advanced hardware needed, no maintenance worries, no intensive training, and no long development times.
2024 – The Future
After five years of developing and enhancing our IT system with no-code and AI, we are eager to share our insights with the market. Our training sessions and consulting package are designed to help entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate teams implement the no-code and AI solutions we’ve refined at Drinkizz. The No-code movement offers a powerful suite of tools and methodologies that can elevate your operational capabilities and optimize your funding.
Following this journey. You can see that from the beginning to now at Drinkizz we keep working hard to innovate in the digital area to make our processes and operations work smoothly.
Over 5 years ago, we faced the same limitations as many of our clients do today: fragile spreadsheet workflows, data silos, and limited visibility across departments. Knack database allowed us to break free from that cycle. We now help similar businesses fast-track their transformation using software and IT strategy we’ve validated in real-world conditions.
If you’re interested in using no-code and AI at your company without spending years learning and experimenting, feel free to contact me ([email protected]).
What Next?
I have so much to share with you about the digital adventure at Drinkizz. This series will outline the four key phases of Drinkizz’s IT evolution: Frustration, Hesitation, Optimism, and The Future. Each phase represents a significant step in our digital transformation journey.
In the next four blog posts, I will delve deeply into each of these phases to help you better understand the challenges we faced, the solutions we implemented, and the insights we gained. Drinkizz can be an inspiring example for you. So, don’t hesitate to also test our drinks to better feel our DNA.
Useful links
O.N.E Drink (Organic Natural Energy ) – Drinkizz Shop
