Introduction

Our client Ario specializes in building intelligent lighting products that help people lead healthier lives. Using Bluetooth LED technology that mimics natural sunlight, Ario supports the body’s natural hormone production and helps people maintain a proper circadian rhythm that keeps them alert and productive during the day.

Business Challenge

Ario’s patented Smart Lamp product has enjoyed considerable success among residential consumers, but they wanted to market their lights as a solution for improving guest satisfaction in hotel chains. Their vision was to bring the natural sunrise and sunset experiences to hotel rooms to improve guest wellness and promote more restful sleep.

To make their product more marketable, Ario integrated it with software to unlock the full potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). Once their Bluetooth LED bulbs were connected to the cloud, they could monitor all devices remotely and provide timely software updates to enhance the user experience.

To do this, they came to S9 Digital, which built an Android tablet app, set up remote device access, and designed a scalable cloud infrastructure. Wanting to perform customer trials and bring their product to the market as soon as possible, they set a short deadline for the project, but S9 Digital quickly delivered the software that would both delight users and provides Ario with the data they needed to optimize performance.

App Development

The first step in the app development process was to transform Ario’s mockup designs into an appealing, user-friendly UI. However, S9 Digital’s app was more than just a pretty face: it was Ario’s access point to the internet. Ario wanted to eventually monitor and control tablets at a hotel and company-wide level through the cloud. So we used Facebook’s React Native framework, which allowed our developers to build the native app UI, web admin dashboard, and server connections (with Node.js) all in JavaScript.
This sped up development time considerably by simplifying integration and allowing us to reuse code. It also meant that going forward, Ario could use a lean engineering team to maintain their various code libraries.

To integrate Ario’s codebase with the S9 Digital UI, a full audit and testing of interactions were performed. The result was a smooth, responsive, and natural-feeling control to the lighting and alarm systems. One example of the synergy between hardware and software is the app’s transition into a “night mode” that resembles a traditional alarm clock. This transition happens gradually: the lights begin to dim, and the app begins to remove distractions from the user’s view in addition to reducing its own brightness. The app is synced to taps on the screen as well as an accelerometer in the device to give the user instant access to the app’s features. As a result of S9 Digital’s work, not only did the app provide an attractive and intuitive interface for users, the LED lights and alarms were working better than ever.

Remote Access

Ario’s customer trials would occur in many hotels simultaneously, so they needed the capability to immediately provide remote solutions to any problems that may arise. To accomplish this, we set them up with Hexnode, a cloud-based device manager. Hexnode allowed Ario to restrict access to the Android tablet by placing it in a kiosk mode that would limit user error. It also enabled Ario support staff to forcibly restart devices remotely to resolve issues.

An important part of the trials would be collecting data in real time to monitor bugs and track the full life of user interaction with the app. S9 Digital implemented data collection on the app and set Ario up with Papertrail, a cloud-hosted logging service, which would keep the Ario support team alert to error logs and user interaction on the device. Papertrail served as a quick intermediary solution that could easily be replaced with a full cloud database. Cloud services enable a company to incrementally scale up their data collection based on what time and funding allow.

Cloud Architecture and the Next Phase

Once a product has access to the internet and is collecting data, the possibilities are endless. Ario now provides more than just lighting experiences: it provides control and analytics for the entire hotel’s lighting system. Built alongside the tablet app was an admin dashboard website that will serve as the central hub of information on the tablets and lights. When Ario is ready to upscale their operations, data already being sent to Papertrail can easily be pointed to Ario’s Azure Cloud Platform, which provides a wealth of services for securing and analyzing data. Given remote access to their tablets and the Android store, Ario can push software updates and automatically provision new devices. Ario can integrate its customer-facing app, LED light hardware, web admin dashboard, and data collection into a unified IoT platform to meet the full needs of the evolving hotel industry.

Conclusions

S9 Digital was able to architect cloud software solutions to meet Ario’s needs for the right price, on the right timeline. Both the client and their customers were thrilled with the results, and the Ario enterprise is positioned for success as it scales up its business in the future.

Dale Dell’Ario, CTO & Co-Founder at Ario stated, “S9 Digital has worked with us for more than six months on tablet app and cloud infrastructure projects. They have been immediately productive and efficient, providing solid solutions quickly. We consider them to be a valuable development partner and recommend them highly.”

Undeniably, the emergence of the cloud has enabled organizations to innovate and market their products/services easily, without breaking the bank. Its innate characteristics, like scalability, connectivity, and on-demand provisioning, have made it an ideal platform to build applications and manage IoT.  S9 Digital can utilize our knowledge in cloud architecture, mobile development, and UX design to build IoT platforms and system across a multitude of industries.

Watch YOUR Vision Come to Life

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Without cloud architecture, the Internet of Things (IoT) is just… things!

With the rising need of connectivity, cloud-enabled solutions have become integral for the development of network architecture to foster real-time IoT deployments. The cloud wave has touched each industry and sector in an attempt to make them more agile. When implemented pragmatically, cloud solutions can help businesses across all ambits to capitalize on market needs for connected devices to gain new sets of insightful data. To put it simply, IoT was born in the cloud, and cloud fosters both IoT and Big Data growth.

According to a study conducted by IDC, the global market of Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to reach approximately $1.7 trillion by 2020, with several custom-built platforms, storage options, security models, applications to cover a large percentage of revenue as the market grows.

It goes without saying that the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rising dependence of companies on digital devices will also rise swiftly with the help of cloud-enabled services. Here, cloud computing will share an integral role in accommodating the ever-increasing data storage needs, raised by start-ups, midcaps, and giants corporate houses. It is no more a hidden truth that legacy systems cannot meet the growing data needs and connected devices. The other side of the equation is, cloud platforms are designed and developed in such a manner that they can help organizations sustain rapid growth in performance. On top of that, cloud computing is underpinned with capabilities to meet the need of real-time analytics and mobility management applications.

Let us understand the significance of cloud computing in today’s IoT-driven landscape:

Stringent Security: There are a host of businesses having concerns about the protection of IoT. They hold an astrological fear in their mind that it can impact their network security, which may also result in dropped business. By partnering with a trusted cloud security service provider, such as AWS, Azure, Or Google Cloud, they can put an end to all such concerns. Organizations can secure and segregate their information and data sets across different devices and IT architectures, connected from different geographic locations. Most providers follow a multi-layered security model to protect the network, data, and other critical business applications against unwarranted issues. These providers have up-to-the-minute technologies in place to prevent catastrophic situations.

Greater Scalability: Apart from security, it is an intricate affair for many businesses to predict how much computing and storage capacity they will need to accommodate explosive data surge, brought in by a plethora of connected devices. Here, the cloud has something to offer. The cloud computing model is extremely scalable when compared to the traditional computing models. With its on-demand resource provisioning attribute, it enables businesses to meet the growing influx of data and connected devices, promptly, without showing any performance lag. To put it simply, IT departments can easily adjust their storage capacity, whenever and wherever required. This, in turn, reduces over-provisioning of resources and saves precious time and resources. Not to forget, the computing and storage capacity can be added at any point in time from any part of the world.

Network Reliability: Today, for many forward-thinking organizations, network infrastructure management is the top priority. To manage the network architecture, it is indispensable to have reliable management solutions in place. Furthermore, IoT emphasizes the need of well-managed network architecture, which makes it quite intricate for technology leaders to manage the burgeoning data growth in real-time.

Businesses can simply balance data and devices without compromising on critical functionalities. The best way is to partner with a reliable cloud service provider, who can provide you with matchless solutions for disaster recovery and business continuity.

‘Pay-As-You-Go’ Model

In addition to these, cloud computing also offers solutions at no big cost. Typically, it works on a pay-per-use billing model. As an example, with AWS ‘pay-as-you-go’ pricing, you to easily adapt to changing business needs without overcommitting budgets and improving your responsiveness to changes.  With a pay-as-you-go model, you can adapt your business depending on need and not on forecasts, reducing the risk of over positioning or missing capacity.

Enabling Innovation

Undeniably, the emergence of the cloud has enabled organizations to innovate and market their products/services easily, without breaking the bank. It’s innate characteristics, like scalability, connectivity, and on-demand provisioning, have made it an ideal platform to build applications and manage IoT.

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Every now and then when strategizing with a client about their business, we get a puzzled look from someone, expressing “what is a CRM?”  CRM, is an abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management, which dates back to the 1970s when companies began using computers to track interactions with their customers.  In fact, while working for Accenture in 2001 I was on the development team designing and developing a custom CRM system for AT&T.  This new platform was able to merge all client data from old legacy systems into one customer portal.

Back in the day, CRM software was not purchased off the shelf… it was 100% custom built for the business needs. With current technology today, there are plenty of low-cost, yet powerful options.  S9 Digital always discusses a CRM during an initial digital transformation strategy meeting with our clients.

CRM Systems for Small Businesses and Enterprises

Most businesses today use some form of CRM, such as a simple single-user setup or a true enterprise-class software configuration. Originally serving as a basic database for customer names and contact information, systems evolved over the past 20 years to include highly-specialized industry functions, interfaces, extensive data analytics, and API integrations. A quick Google search will reveal thousands of CRM products. Although some solutions provide general customer tracking, many offer industry-specific CRM systems. Such as a platform to handle real estate, finance, mortgage, investment, or even insurance industry data.

The Purpose of CRM Systems

A CRM system provides a way to organize and optimize a businesses customer information and activities supporting customer relations. That is, the software can store contacts, notes, activities and far more – for customers or prospects. That data can be made accessible to sales teams, support staff, management, accounting departments or anyone else who needs access. A CRM system today is often the hub for a business, driving nearly all marketing, sales, support, and accounting operations. It becomes a highly valuable component of the business. So a CRM can serve as lead management, customer service, billing or any number of other functions.

Do You NEED a CRM System?

If your company doesn’t already use a CRM System, perhaps you may want to consider one to help you collect valuable business data in a single location, while making it accessible to your team across locations and devices. If your company is growing, a central customer database becomes essential. Finding a CRM solution that addresses all your unique requirements can be a daunting task (remember there are thousands of CRM systems!)  Start by developing a wish list of ideas that would streamline your customer management that you use in your evaluations. Once the CRM system is in place, you can focus on serving the needs of your prospects and customers. The CRM system helps you keep better track of the results.

Of course, there are tons of CRM systems out there, each with plenty of features to choose from.

Best Business CRMs on the Market Today

1.) HubSpot

The CRM from HubSpot is entirely free to use with the option of paying for extra marketing or sales modules. This is a great solution for small businesses on a tight budget. HubSpot’s CRM offers reliable basics such as logging emails, tracking deals, assigning tasks and building databases. The best thing about this system is that it supports unlimited users and storage. However, the reporting tools leave a lot to be desired, so you might have to use HubSpot Sales, which is free. Still, for a free package, it is super useful and reliable.

2.) Zoho

If you choose to use Zoho, you can opt for the Standard $12 per user/month plan, the Professional $20 per user/month plan, the Enterprise $35 per user/month plan, or the ultimate $100 per user/month plan, according to your needs and expectations. A flexible solution for small businesses, Zoho offers contact management, sales automation, social media integration and more. If you need more out of this CRM, you can use other compatible Zoho products such as web forms and customer support. Additionally, the practical mobile app gives you access to data on the go and allows you to locate leads on maps.

3.) Insightly

Insightly values versatility, which is why they offer 5 plans for their customers to choose from. There is a Free plan for up to 2 users, the Basic plan for $12 per user/month, the Plus plan for $29 per user/month, the Professional plan for $49 per user/month and the Enterprise plan for $99 per user/month. A powerful CRM, Insightly emphasizes project management. It allows you to assign tasks, establish milestones, define schedules, create reports, make notes, attach files and much more. The sales management features include mass email support and social networking integration.

4.) Salesforce

Salesforce is the big player of the CRM world, with mature products, trailblazing features, and an unbeatable installed user base. The Salesforce CRM catalog is always evolving, but the Sales Cloud is a good bet for most enterprises. Its AI-driven opportunity management engine, Einstein, is one of its more popular new innovations.

5.) Pipedrive

Pipedrive is focused around activity-based selling – that is, all the actions that lead to a sale. That makes it perfect for inbound selling, as it takes a granular approach to identifying, reporting, and leveraging lead actions that can move the sales process forward. It comes in an easy and intuitive package out of the box. For power-users, everything can be customized to meet your exact needs.

6.) Apptivo

With Apptivo you can choose one of their three pricing plans. The Starter plan is free for three users. Alternatively, the premium plan is $8.33 per user/ month, and the ultimate plan is $20.83 per user/month. The last two plans can be tested in a free trial. Apptivo promises to increase your sales with the help of a Sales Pipeline that allows you to keep an eye on closing deals and prospects. The Conversions option enables users to convert opportunities into invoices, quotes or projects. A comprehensive CRM, this intuitive system helps you easily manage tasks, schedules, contacts and notes in a time-efficient manner.

7.) Nimble

Nimble offers a single pricing option for their clients: $22 per license/month to get access to their contact management, sales, and marketing automation, deal pipeline and reporting, e-mail tracking and analytics and much more. You can also try the system for free for 14 days to see if Nimble is a good match for your small business. Nimble’s lightweight platform allows you to focus on the fundamentals. All online conversations are visible and the powerful search tool quickly pulls out all the data you need.

8.) Bitrix24

Bitrix24 CRM is free to use if you have less than 12 users. The Plus plan is $39 per month for 24 users.  However, the Standard plan is only $99 per month for an unlimited number of users. At this price, it’s a low-cost enterprise solution. An excellent choice for small businesses, Bitrix24 offers many powerful tools such as document handling, employee management, collaboration, project management and instant messaging. This powerful system allows you to log sent emails, recorded calls, leads and issued invoices without breaking a sweat.

9.) Capsule CRM

You can use Capsule CRM for free if you have up to 2 users or you can choose the Professional plan for $12 per user/month. The idea behind this system is a minimalist approach that focuses only on the basics.  Such as tasks, sales pipeline, scheduling, collaboration, and contact management. The handy tools of Capsule CRM allow you to keep track of your client’s social media, tag or organize contacts and attach documents to their records.

10.) InStream

The Freelancer plan for InStream is $6 per month for one user, but you can easily upgrade to the Basic plan for $10 per user/month, the Business plan for $19 per user/month or the Premium for $29 per user/month. Stay up to date with the nifty features of InStream.  Such as their social media integration, logged calls and emails, and detailed contacts management. Thanks to its flawless integration with other systems, InStream is easy to use.  It also will sync with your Google calendar to keep you on top of your schedule.

Watch YOUR Vision Come to Life

Today’s digital challenges cannot be solved with conventional approaches. The unique blend of our expertise and experience across the world of digital enables us to create products, solutions, and campaigns which truly transform brands and organizations – opening up new possibilities, inspiring audiences, and attracting customers. If you are interested in a CRM for your company or organization, then please contact S9 Digital to set up your FREE Consultation.

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