How a 2-dev team rebuilt 600+ panels and saved $150K+ per year
600+ legacy panels built
2 – person team
$150K saved annually
Weeks long delivery -> 15 -minute panels
From startups to Fortune 500s, the world’s leading teams rely on DronaHQ to build internal tools.
Hidden engineering costs in internal tools
Many fast-growing D2C teams unknowingly burn hundreds of dev hours maintaining legacy panels. Here’s a snapshot of the silent productivity killers hidden in your internal tooling stack.
| Tech debt | Legacy panels built in PHP, React, Angular causing upgrade risks |
| Slow edits | Minor field changes can take multiple days to deploy |
| Engineering inefficiency | Backend engineers diverted to repetitive UI tasks |
| Fragmented tooling | Different teams (Ops, CS, Logistics) use disconnected panel systems |
Moving broadly to DronaHQ was a very, very important step, we could not keep patching legacy panels.
How Purplle scaled internal tooling without scaling engineering
| Strategy Shift | Result |
|---|---|
| Formed a 2-dev team | Handled 600+ internal tools across ops, pricing, logistics, WMS and CS |
| API Foundation | Expose headless APIs for every capability. |
| Audit & Prioritise | Catalogue 600+ panels; flag unused; pick “Top 100” |
| Lowcode for building interfaces | Centralise panel development on one platform |
| Pilot + Team Set-up | Form 2-dev low-code pod; rebuild first 60; set CI/CD |
| Mass Migration | Batch-migrate next 100+; tight loop with backend team |
| Replaced weeks-long dev cycles | Panels delivered in 15 minutes to 2 days instead of 2–3 weeks |
Learn how Purplle migrated 600+ tools:
– Migration phases and timelines
– Internal team setup
– Success metrics and KPIs
– Cost Savings and Speed Gains
– Before → After stack
“PhonePe is a very strongly regulated entity... compliance comes first, and we don’t want to sacrifice on what we represent. Low-code allowed us to streamline our operations while maintaining the integrity of our regulatory requirements.”
Lessons for engineering leaders
Scaling internal tools isn’t just about speed—it’s about creating structure, reducing friction, and enabling teams to move with clarity.
Low-code ≠ shadow IT when paired with an API backbone.
Audit usage first—kill dead panels, then migrate.
Guardrails beat guidelines—remove review fatigue.
Measure dev hours saved, not just panels rebuilt.
Shoot for 10× throughput; incremental gains lose to inertia.
How Purplle ensured dev success
- 26 man-months saved annually
- $208,000 saved in dev cost each year
- Simple panel → 15 mins
- Complex panel → 2–3 days
- 2-person team managed 600+ internal tools
Free up your dev team to innovate
Join modern teams like Purplle using DronaHQ to scale faster, cut costs, and simplify operations.