At EmpowerPro 2025, our Chief Product Officer, Marcus Torres, shared a simple but powerful idea: Work should flow. It’s more than a mantra—it’s a reflection of what we’ve heard from so many of you, the builders, leaders, and innovators keeping your organizations moving forward. Work has gotten way too complicated, tangled up in too many systems, silos, and manual processes. You feel the cost of that friction every day: in wasted hours, preventable safety issues, and critical decisions stalled by untrustworthy data.
Our vision for the future is simple: fewer obstacles, more flow. Data that connects once and stays accurate everywhere. Smart tools that handle the busywork so your team can focus on real progress.
A New Way of Working: From Creating to Curating
A huge shift is happening right now. AI has sped everything up, and slow manual work just doesn’t cut it anymore. We’re all moving away from having to create everything by hand, like reports and schedules. What does the new reality look like? We set the direction, and AI does the heavy lifting. It’s a shift from being creators to being curators of our work.
While many of us behind a desk are starting to use these new AI tools, there's a huge group being left behind. Marcus pointed out that there are 2.7 billion deskless workers: the people out in the field, still bogged down by paperwork and outdated processes. And connecting them is our north star. That’s the real opportunity for us to make a difference.
Our Game Plan: The Four Jobs to Make Work Flow
So, how do we actually make this happen? Let’s break it down into a simple framework that actually helps you and your team get rid of that friction.
Capture Data That’s Right—From the Start
The cost of bad data is immense: rework, delays, and decisions based on outdated information. The goal here is to capture information correctly at the source, without clipboards or typing things twice. That’s where Grid Reports come in. Reimagined to feel like Excel but built to act as a single source of truth, it eliminates the chaos of multiple versions and brings instant alignment across teams. When you get this right, the results are amazing. Just look at Mondelēz International. They built an app that flowed data from their delivery trucks directly into their driver training programs, leading to a 39% drop in preventable accidents.
Keep the Work Moving – Automatically
How much of your team’s potential is drained by repetitive tasks? Status updates, routine check-ins—all the busywork they’re occupied with that should ideally happen in the background. This is about automating the manual work so your people can focus on high-value outcomes. A great example is VTG Defense. They built an operational hub in Quickbase that cut their manual tasks by 60% and slashed response times from hours down to minutes. That’s the difference when you let automation handle the small stuff.
Act on Insights, Not Hindsight
This one is all about getting ahead of problems instead of just reacting to them. That’s tough when your data is trapped in different spreadsheets and disconnected systems. A global auto manufacturer we work with is a perfect example. They built an app that provided real-time insight into their production lines, helping them spot issues early. The ROI was immediate: they saved over $17 million and got back more than 1,200 hours of productivity.
Scale Up Without Losing Control
The question every operations leader asks: "How do we grow without breaking everything?" Governance shouldn’t slow you down; it should give you the confidence to move faster. With Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), you don’t have to choose between speed and control. Test once in a sandbox, then roll out with confidence, everywhere. It’s governance that accelerates. Take 318 Construction. They grew their revenue eightfold by centralizing operations on Quickbase, managing over 400 active jobs with real-time dashboards instead of hundreds of spreadsheets. That’s proof that when work flows, your business grows.
Turning Vision into Action: A Leader’s Playbook
Ready to make work flow on your team? Start small. Pick one choke point—maybe it’s data entry, handoffs, or visibility—and measure the time or risk that it costs you. Next, apply a targeted change: one table, one scan, one photo. Then track what happens next. You’ll see faster handoffs, fewer errors, lesser rework—results you can both see and feel.
This approach has helped countless teams improve their workflows, cut waste, and make more confident decisions. When you capture data once and trust it everywhere, you stop firefighting and start steering.
Where We Go from Here
EmpowerPro wasn’t just a look at what’s new with Quickbase and FastField. It was a look at what’s next. For every builder tackling the messy reality of work, this is our shared vision: a world where data connects seamlessly, teams move faster, and decisions happen with confidence. We’re building the platform, but you’re the ones making work flow.
Want to dive deeper into all the new features we announced? Head over to our official release blog for the full breakdown. And watch the full keynote session on demand for more insights.
