How Navitas Built 31 Internal Applications in Days With Zero Traditional Developers

Navitas is one of the world's largest education providers, supporting more than 60,000 learners across 100+ colleges and campuses in 18 countries. Operating across multiple regions, the organization relies on shared services teams to support critical business functions such as Finance.

As Navitas North America grew, employees had to work across separate systems for different offices, including virtual desktop environments and custom-built internal sites. This fragmented setup made everyday tasks more cumbersome, requiring staff to navigate multiple applications and logins while accommodating different operational and regulatory requirements across offices.

Before ToolJet, Navitas North America relied on a combination of open-source Drupal with custom-built modules and Retool for its internal tooling. As the need for internal applications grew, the organization was looking for a more cost-effective way to build applications, connect existing data, and give teams easier access to the information they needed. With total cost of ownership as a primary consideration, Navitas chose ToolJet to simplify internal operations and build applications that could support teams across its offices.

Navitas North America's teams were working across multiple systems to support operations in different offices. While each system addressed specific business requirements, the fragmented environment created additional administrative work and made it harder for shared-services teams to work efficiently.

• The Multi-Office Access Problem: Shared-services staff had to access separate systems and virtual desktop environments for different locations, resulting in multiple logins and constant context switching.
• The Data Access Problem: Navitas needed easier access to its raw data and greater control over how teams interacted with it. Existing systems created friction between the data and the employees who needed to use it.
• The Scalability Problem: Different operational and regulatory requirements made it difficult to create a consistent framework that could support existing offices while making new locations easier to onboard.
• Growing Application Needs: Navitas needed more than basic dashboards. Teams required CRUD apps, reports, finance and billing tools, PDF generation, and automated reporting workflows.
• The Cost and Tooling Problem: Navitas was using custom-built Drupal modules alongside Retool and needed a more cost-effective platform without sacrificing flexibility.

Navitas North America adopted ToolJet to bring its internal applications and shared-services workflows into a more accessible environment. Instead of replacing its existing systems, the team could build applications around the data and services already in place.

• Centralizing Shared-Services Operations: Navitas built a centralized application for shared-services teams, including Finance, supporting multiple offices. Thus, processes that previously required employees to navigate separate systems and virtual desktop environments were now in a single application.
• Simplifying Access to Business Data: ToolJet gave the Navitas team a more direct way to work with raw business data through applications built around their actual workflows.
• Supporting Multiple Internal Use Cases: Navitas used ToolJet for CRUD apps, reporting, finance and billing tools, PDF generation, data syncs, and automated reporting workflows.
• Connecting Existing Data Sources: REST APIs, PDF APIs, SMTP, and workflows allowed Navitas to connect ToolJet with its existing systems without replacing the underlying infrastructure.
• Scalable Framework for Growth: By consolidating shared-services workflows into a centralized application, Navitas established a foundation that can simplify onboarding new locations and support future organizational growth.

ToolJet helped Navitas North America simplify internal operations while scaling its application development without scaling its traditional development team.

• Built 31 internal applications across internal operations, administration, data reporting, finance, and billing.
• Delivered the application portfolio in 60 days, giving Navitas a rapid path from development to production.
• Built with one person on the application-building team.
• Required zero traditional developers, allowing Navitas to expand its internal tooling without adding a conventional development team.
• Centralized shared-services operations for teams supporting multiple offices, reducing the need to navigate separate systems and virtual desktop environments.
• Reduced administrative overhead and context switching by bringing previously fragmented workflows into a centralized application.
• Improved cross-office support by giving shared-services teams a more consistent way to manage processes across locations.
• Created a scalable foundation for future growth, making it easier to support new locations and evolving organizational requirements.
• Deployed the solution to production, with Navitas planning to continue expanding its use of ToolJet.