Custom Web Development

What makes sense?

Off-the-shelf solutions are great, but we are often faced with challenges where an off the shelf solution has a limitation. We have a lot of discussion with clients about the choice of a content management system versus a custom built solution. The solution depends on the the nature of the project. We listen to our client’s vision, ideas and specific marketing goals and strategize a solution. If functionality requirements extend beyond an off the shelf solution's capabilities, we explore other, often custom-developed, solutions.

What does a custom solution look like?

Custom solutions often require the integration of multiple programing languages and technologies to solve unique challenages. Nomacorc, a synthetic wine cork manufacturer, needed a versatile tool for their distributors around the world to assist in analyzing information provided by wineries to select an appropriate synthetic cork for the type of wine being produced. This solution required three separate applications; distributer application, web service and brand manager dashboard.

NOMA Selector

The largest and most versatile solution was the distibutor application called the NOMA Selector. It needed to support five different langauges, run on a PC, MAC, Android and iPad tablets. It’s task was to assist distributors and wineries with analyzing Nomacorc’s proprietary algorithms to select a synthetic cork. While visiting a winery on a sales call, distributors guided the winery through a series of questions on the process and chemistry of the wine being produced. The winery’s responses were analyzed by the NOMA Selector and a cork selection was recommended. The winery’s data was collected and when an internet connection was within range, the data was sent to a web service.

We choose Adobe Air to develop the distributor application. Adobe Air allowed us to create the application once and deploy to many devices, not to mention there were five versions for each device type with a total of 20 versions to maintain. One benefit of using Adobe Air is it’s update process. When NOMA Selector was deployed with new features, the distributor would receive a notification and update with a click of a button. By using Adobe Air, we not only saved time by not having to develop individual applications for PC, MAC, Android and iPad tablets, but also eliminate the cost associated with developing four separate applications.

Web Service

The web service handled data collection and communication between the NOMA Selector and brand manager dashboard. When a synthetic cork was recommended, the winery’s data was collected and sent to the web service. The web service would then send the data to the brand manager dashboard and report back to the NOMA Selector to confirm the data was collected. Each time the NOMA Selector application was opened, it would check with the web service for any updates or communications sent out by brand managers.

Brand Manager Dashboard

Before the NOMA Selector, brand managers relied on conversations with distributors and reports to gather data on thier products. It was a tedious process that often took days of compiling reports and many phone calls to distributors that often spoke different languages. The brand manager dashboard was an online portal where brand managers could review the data being collected from wineries all over the world in one place. Creating reports and getting a “big picture” view on how cork varieties were performing was at a click of a button. Brand managers could see what synthetic corks were being recommended and compare the data to actual sales to a specific winery. Distributor data such as distributor name and contact information, time, date and visit to a winery, and how often the NOMA Selector was used could be viewed and used for distributor performance reviews.