Building the Zalinsky app with Fork

I sat down with Don Monistere, CEO and President of General Informatics, to talk about Zalinsky and his team's experience building with Fork.

General Informatics supports businesses across IT services, security, and artificial intelligence. Don and his team know that each customer needs a different view of that work. With Zalinsky, we are helping them bring those needs into a portal they can shape around their customers.

A portal that fits the customer

General Informatics already had a customer portal. In Don's words, it was somewhat effective, but it wasn't exactly what the team wanted.

The company has close relationships with its customers and delivers reports weekly, biweekly, or monthly. A useful portal needs to reflect what each of those customers cares about, including information they need to share with their own stakeholders.

That can lead to requests the team would not have predicted. Don described a customer asking to connect its CRM to the portal's tools. The conversation made the need for flexibility clear: customers should have a say in how the software fits into their work.

The idea behind Zalinsky

Don wanted AI considered from the beginning. General Informatics had already embraced AI and used Pickaxe, so the opportunity to build with Fork was a natural next step.

His vision was a shared foundation with room to adapt. He described leaving about 20% of the application open to a client's needs, while maintaining consistent standards for security and how the portal is used.

“This gave us the flexibility to develop it exactly how we wanted it, very bespoke, very specific.”
Donald Monistere · CEO & President, General Informatics

For our work together, that meant starting with the customer relationship: the services being delivered, the requests that need attention, and the information people need to make decisions.

Inside Zalinsky

The product brings that idea into three connected views: a customer portal, service reporting, and a workbench for the General Informatics team.

These product previews use Zalinsky's interface with fictional sample data, as shown in the interview. Open a screenshot to see it at full size.

Zalinsky customer portal preview showing open requests, recent activity, and quick actions for the fictional Northwind Services company — **A starting point for the customer**The portal preview brings service requests, recent activity, and quick actions together, giving the customer a clear view of what needs attention.

Zalinsky service reporting preview with sample service metrics and reports — **Reporting around the engagement**The reporting view illustrates the information Don wants customers to have at hand when reviewing their services and updating their own stakeholders.

General Informatics workbench preview showing sample customer portals and service requests — **A workspace for the team behind the service**The GI workbench provides the internal side of the experience, with customer portals and requests brought into one view.

Built for both sides of the relationship

When I asked whether Zalinsky was for customers or the internal team, Don's answer was immediate: both.

He described the company's customer success managers as working 51% for General Informatics and 49% for the customer. The portal is intended to support that balance. Customers get the reporting they need, and the team has a clearer way to stay accountable for the work promised in each engagement.

That shared view matters whether a customer is reporting to its board, its own clients, or another stakeholder. The aim is to make the service relationship easier to understand and manage on both sides.

Building together with Fork

General Informatics had already started the project with its own developers. After seeing Fork, Don decided to bring the teams together.

He gave Carson a specific shout-out and described the engagement as exactly what he was looking for. For Don, the experience combined a capable engineering team with support he could rely on throughout the build.

“The engagement's been spot on. It's exactly what we were looking for.”
Donald Monistere, on building with the Fork team

Support came up again when we talked about the broader experience. Don contrasted the uncertainty of waiting for a development support ticket with what he described as crisp support from start to finish.

“I can't speak highly enough about the team,” he told me.

Looking ahead to rollout

Preparing for rollout · At the time of our October 13, 2026 interview

At the time of our conversation, Don was looking forward to rolling out Zalinsky. His focus was on continuing to improve the customer experience as AI and his customers' needs evolve.

What stood out to me was how specific the idea was. General Informatics wanted software shaped around its customer relationships, with the flexibility to keep learning from those customers. Zalinsky is the product we are building together around that idea.