It has already been quite a long while since we started developing the new version of WebAsyst Contacts, though this topic has not yet been covered in our blog. In this post we begin telling about the development process and the features that shall be expected in the version.
The current version of WebAsyst Contacts (read a detailed description on our website) allows to store business and private contacts arranged in folders as well as to create signup forms for the visitors of websites and blogs. The new version of the application will be the first step towards a fully-fledged CRM system within WebAsyst.
Our goal now is to implement CRM-like features for WebAsyst applications through several successive updates for online stores owners, web developers, freelancers, and everyone else who need to organize their relationship with customers in a convenient way.
To create a CRM inside WebAsyst in a common sense of the word, that would allow, for instance, to quickly find full details of a customer, when he or she made a telephone call, to track all interactions with the customer, to view all customer’s orders and the projects you are working on or have already completed for that customer, etc. – implementing all those features will require some time. Therefore, to speed up the whole process, we have divided further development of WebAsyst into several steps:
1. Platform creation
This part will be released very shortly and will include updated Contacts and Users. These applications will be used for direct management of your contacts and account users database. We are planning to release updated WebAsyst Contacts before the end of the current (2009) year.
2. Integration with other applications
To begin with, it will be the integration with WebAsyst Mail and WebAsyst Support (the latter one is a new application which is currently in development, too), then with WebAsyst Projects, Issue Tracker and, of course, with Shop-Script.
3. Shop-Script + Contacts
The next Shop-Script update will already by fully integrated with Contacts, the mechanism of customer management is now being re-written to take the functionality of the new Contacts into account. Certainly you would be able to use Shop-Script without WebAsyst Contacts, but both applications, if used together, would provide much more efficiency, as it would be an online store + CRM.
4. Extendable functionality of your CRM
The possibility to assign custom event triggers for various actions related to contact management, to develop custom functionality for the Contacts (e.g., a billing system), an open API. These possibilities are already partly available in the software kernel and will be released as the Contacts become more integrated with other WebAsyst applications.
In several following blog posts we will keep telling you about the new Contacts and the functionality of the WebAsyst CRM system. Screen shots will be posted, too – wait for the updates!
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