A(i) U-Turn for Custom UIs
Interfaces Are Communication
A user interface is primarily a way to communicate with the user.
Just like an email or a word document not every UI should be identical. It used to be that UIs had to be reused over and over again due to their extensive cost of development. But today that is no longer true. Using stock UIs is as awkward and unprofessional as sending a stock email to your mother for her birthday. Software companies need to wake up to this new reality or find themselves in the horse and buggy museum.
The Problem With Traditional Custom UIs
A few years ago, CETIN was using a combination of Grafana and Elastic Search dashboards for network visibility, along side manual processes for reconfiguring the network based on these insights. This worked more or less fine, but it required navigating the rich interfaces of Grafana and Elastic Search, switching between these windows and various other pieces of software used to configure the network. The interfaces contained many buttons and features that were not relevant to the workflow, while lacking smooth integration. It was really hard to onboard people to this workflow, and so only an elite team of network engineers were able to diagnose even relatively basic network errors. A custom UI was not used because at the time it was not cost effective to build one. We would have needed three teams, frontend, backend UX all needing to collaborate in a complex manner.
Today by combining BitSwan’s clean architectural boundaries and new AI tools for building custom web interfaces, we can now develop custom UIs in months not years. This radically changes how we should think about UI development and automation in general. The impossible is possible! It has always been true that interfaces should reflect how people actually work but until very recently, custom UIs were simply out of reach. Let us look at what we can do with this new opportunity.
Case Study: Telco Monitor at CETIN
We developed a custom UI for Cetin Telco monitor using this approach. Their teams needed a user interface that could gather real-time data from telco routers and antennas, highlight problems, and provide support agents and leaders with instant insights into performance. This required one place to see everything: radio signal parameters, device activity, connection issues, and network trends. It had to be clean, intuitive, and fast. Users needed to glance, understand, and act quickly—without hesitation or confusion.
Speed Without Backlog
When CETIN asked us to add a zoom feature for 5G connectivity signal graphs, we didn’t put the request into a backlog for a future sprint. We delivered the feature the following week. This is the standard, not the exception. Our process allows for change without friction or delay. By using AI to help with interface logic and generate boilerplate code, we can quickly turn needs into features within days—sometimes even hours. This flexibility means we can treat feedback on the interface as a natural part of ongoing product development.
The Interface Reflects the Work
This isn’t just about speed; it’s also about alignment. The UI reflects their team’s real work. CETIN’s engineers and managers don’t have to click through multiple pages to find device logs or wait for a backend report. The dashboard provides live data, tailored for each user group. Every chart, field, and interaction serves a purpose. It’s not just functional; it’s supportive. It reduces mental load, lowers errors, and speeds up issue resolution. Every stat is exactly where the operator expects it to be, because he’s the one to put it there.
Architecture That Enables Agility
Building custom UIs with BitSwan means that interfaces grow with your use case. Instead of locking you into fixed screens, we provide a well structured architecture that provides a safe and secure sandbox for the AI to play in. By separating out frontend code and security critical backend code, we allow the AI to quickly build out advanced user interfaces while maintaining a well auditable security layer between that UI and critical business logic.
Custom Means Adaptive, Not Slow
Custom doesn’t mean waiting six months. It means conversing with the AI about what you need, testing out the new interfaces within days and allowing them to evolve with your needs.