“gray work”
Changing the industry narrative
The Challenge
In industries like construction, manufacturing, and field services, teams are drowning in inefficiency—switching between disconnected tools, manually inputting data, and struggling with workarounds that slow them down. Yet, there wasn’t a clear way to describe this frustrating reality.
Quickbase saw an opportunity: name the problem everyone feels but couldn’t articulate.
The Solution: Defining "Gray Work"
We coined the term "Gray Work" to describe all the unnecessary, invisible work caused by fragmentation—the manual processes, duplicated efforts, and workarounds that steal time and energy from real, value-driving tasks.
By naming it, we transformed a universal frustration into a solvable challenge—one that Quickbase is uniquely positioned to eliminate.
Building an Industry Narrative
"Gray Work" has become the cornerstone of Quickbase’s corporate messaging, shaping how we engage with customers, prospects, and the broader market. It’s not just a phrase—it’s a movement.
Executive Thought Leadership – Our CEO champions the fight against Gray Work in event keynotes, media appearances, and thought leadership.
New Proprietary Research & Tools – To further quantify the impact of Gray Work, we developed:
An annual research study on the state of productivity and operational inefficiency, putting data behind the problem.
The Gray Work Index & calculator, a proprietary framework for measuring inefficiency in organizations.
Content & Demand Generation – We’ve built a robust content ecosystem around the concept, including ebooks, webinars, and social content that educate and engage.
Sales & Customer Conversations – By naming the problem, we’ve empowered our teams to speak directly to customer pain points, making our value proposition more compelling and memorable.
The Impact
By defining "Gray Work," we shifted the conversation in our industry. Customers now recognize fragmentation as a fixable challenge, and Quickbase as the solution. The term has given us a powerful, ownable narrative—one that continues to shape our marketing, product positioning, and industry influence.
With the Gray Work Index and Calculator, we’ve turned an abstract frustration into a measurable problem with real business impact, further reinforcing Quickbase’s leadership in the space.
