AI-based Digital Business Cards to Identify Quality Leads and Expand Sales Network

The client contacted Capital Numbers to create this community app from scratch. We had to develop an app that helps people find links to local businesses and services nearby. The aim was to offer a seamless browsing experience for people looking for community information.

We took on the project and discussed more about the client’s vision. As we delved deeper, we realized that the app required three distinct user admins, namely:

• The super admin
• The community admin
• The business admin

Our first challenge was to create a system that accommodates and provisions a growing number of user profiles (community and business admins combined). All admins were supposed to share the standard usability access rights, but some community admins required personalized settings. So, we had to customize accordingly.

Our next challenge was adding modules like event calendars, push notifications, emergency alerts, local ads, map searchings, reporting features, etc. Each module needed critical customizations (like custom fields and word counts) to suit the client’s needs.

Our third challenge was to create a user impersonation. We needed the impersonation for the super admin to operate as a community admin (if required) and manage the entire app better.

Capital Numbers assembled a skilled team of two backend developers, one frontend expert, and one QA. Our team went ahead with the following techs to build the app.

We used Laravel as the backend architecture. Laravel is great for traffic handling. It’s highly performant under heavy traffic loads. Its built-in authentication assures appropriate user access rights. It also separates the underlying logic from interface environments, which enables easy upgrades. Plus, it allows seamless integrations of third parties (like Google Maps).

We next installed AdminLTE in Laravel to create the admin dashboard templates. AdminLTE is a popular, open-source web app template for developing admin dashboards and control panels. It is a highly responsive HTML template based on the CSS framework Bootstrap. It contains ready-to-use pages and components (like charts, widgets, and icons). So, we customized AdminLTE to build the UI of this application’s backend.

We customized Roles and Permissions for some community admins and business users. While making these customizations, we ensured no unwanted data transfer between user accounts. We additionally wrote validation rules to prevent duplicate entries.

Moreover, we added impersonations to allow the super admin to temporarily log in as a community admin and remotely fix issues. This way, the super admin got better control over communities, and the communities didn’t need to trade their data with the super admin to get remote support - a win-win for both.

Next, we added other features and modules like event calendars, push notifications, emergency alerts, local ads, reporting capabilities, etc. Because this community app was supposed to cater to users from different US time zones, we synced time zone clocks using custom APIs to let all users get event updates in their local times. We also used the third-party service Google Maps to help users track local events.

We chose MySQL to store all backend data. MySQL was an obvious choice because it offers exceptional data protection and support.

We successfully delivered the entire solution in around 7 months. The resulting product is an all-inclusive community app that promotes civic and community activities.

Here’s more on the app: