Creating a product from scratch, or next to scratch, has its own challenges.
Our agency was working and consulting for several clients in the Education Industry, in Asia. We quickly realized that the tools our clients were using had several downsides.
- Tools were too expensive. Clients needed inexpensive, reliable and future proof solutions.
- UX was client-centric, meaning that they were designed for the clients by the clients (yes, it is easier to follow the client's orders). Some tools were complex, messy and/or with a steep learning curve.
- UI quickly became outdated. What was trendy a couple of years ago isn't today. No surprise there.
- Hosting and CDNs are often not China-friendly. Nodes abroad are fine, but one living in China will quickly realize that a BtoC/BtoB platform needs a hosting solution in China (AWS, Aliyun, etc.), inside the GFW, in order to increase page loading speed, and reduce response time, timeout rates and so on.
- Moreover, western social networks APIs (e.g social wall, etc.) are not welcome inside the GFW. Same issues here, things will get slower and slower. There are solutions but it increases the costs.
Solution?
1. Use the agency's favorite framework (Laravel), bundles and libraries, to build on previously launched platforms, save development time, and combine future iterations.
2. Create one product, a CMS, hosted in China and on a global CDN, packed with customizable features and user-centric trackers.
3. Design a whole new UX & UI, front end and back end, based on the 2019 best practices (source: Ideo, Google, Twitter, EA, Ubisoft, LinkedIn, Tesla, Tes, etc.)
4. Create a set of tools and packages tailored to the CMS users' needs (e.g. CMS Manual transformed into an interactive chatbot, User management with up to 10 roles, tailored CMS menu based on each role, Ticket support service, Analytics Dashboard, Option to link with social API or Application Tracking System's APIs for the full funnel tracking, etc.)
