High-performing and easy-to-use CRM platform for SMEs
Development team and time
- Development time: 8 months
- Team: 11 people
Background
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are pivotal for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking to enhance their customer engagement and sales strategies. CRM solutions empower SMEs to optimize their sales pipeline and streamline customer management by leveraging tech-driven automation.
With a view to creating an effective solution with an affordable price for small and medium-sized companies, Salesbox (now known as 20NINE) reached out to GEM – an experienced and result-oriented IT service provider.
This case study details the year-long collaboration that aimed to address the urgent needs for automation and efficiency in sales, customer management, and marketing operations.
Challenges
The client’s goal was to provide an effective and easy-to-use platform for tracking sales pipelines, with built-in smart guidance, communication support, and mobile collaboration. In addition, they wished to also incorporate marketing-related tools, namely one that automatically generates leads from websites, campaigns, and social media.
To achieve these goals, firstly, Salesbox needed to build a multi-tenant cloud system with high scalability and capability. This would enable users to manage various and potentially competing organizations and their data separately within a single yet shared storage solution.
The app must also be accessible via desktop, tablet, and mobile, and support multiple platforms including Android, iOS, and Web to synchronize data from one back-end to all users. In addition, it must allow for easy integration of tools used by salespeople such as calendars, email, contact lists, and task management ones. Another request is that the platform should have a stunning interface and excellent user experience, especially on mobile devices for the ease of people who were usually on-the-go.
Apart from these technical requirements, the early stages of implementing a startup idea were difficult as it was full of unexpected issues and changes. The project required adaptability, teamwork, and seamless communication between the business owner, marketing team, and developers. The 5-hour time difference between Sweden and Vietnam was also considered a notable obstacle.
Solution
GEM worked with the client to design an optimized cloud architecture and given valuable recommendations to improve system design and operability. The development team employed Microservices architecture with API Gateway and Service Discovery, which had lightweight protocols and enabled small organizations like Salesbox to easily manage and scale their solutions. As a result, they could swiftly adapt to changes in business requirements.
The application was deployed to Google Cloud Platform at the beginning and then migrated to Amazon Web Services. It was made available on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Desktop app and accessible on all devices that the company had previously enlisted.
Despite the time zone difference, GEM was still able to provide 24/7 service that ensured smooth communication between the parties and help identified and handled ad-hoc events and new changes. Salesbox regarded GEM’s IT development work highly and even entrusted us with providing technical strategy consulting insights as their business development strategies expanded.
Tech stack
- Native Apps in Apple App Store and Google Play Store
- Microservices architecture with API Gateway and Service Discovery
- AngularJS
- Java Spring & Spring Boot
- MongoDB, PostgreSQL
- Jenkins, Mesos, Marathon, Docker & Docker Repository
- Bitbucket
- Datadog and ELK
- Jasper & Microsoft Excel
- Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services
Output
After months of hard work, GEM helped Salesbox build an end-to-end, all-in-one, and user-friendly CRM platform that:
- Has 99.9% uptime with minimal to no disruption during new updates
- Enables real-time and transparent oversight of sales pipelines
- Creates an overarching sales management experience fueled by the easy integration of other external tools
- Provides built-in extractor of lead data from campaigns, websites, emails, and social media
Impacts
Since its launching, Salesbox has been a highly regarded CRM platform that made sales processes become effortlessly organized and focused. It has been adopted by many SMEs and become a key contributor to their sales growth. It is one of the most popular CRMs in North America and Europe and was proudly awarded “Best Sales CRM 2016”, and “Best Newcomer Sales CRM 2017” at the Sales Innovation Expo.
Closing remarks
The collaborative effort between Salesbox and GEM Corporation resulted in an innovative and robust CRM platform tailored for the dynamic needs of SMEs. The remarkable success of the platform, as evidenced by its adoption rates and accolades, underscores the importance of creating digital solutions that recognize and address the real-life needs of the business landscape.
