Highlights Client BizTalk.Online Available on | Official Website (for Desktop App) Category Communication | Collaboration Google Play Statistics 4.2 / 5 Rating | 500+ Downloads Engagement New Product Development, Maintenance, New Feature Development Apple iTunes Metrics 5/5 Rating Technologies Brief BizTalk.Online is a secure business communication and collaboration tool that was created by Galaxy R&D team for overcoming the challenges of existing solutions like Skype, Zoom, etc. and providing an affordable alternative to enterprises as well as smaller businesses that wish to scale up sustainably. The requirement was initially created from the need to improve productivity and cross team collaboration at Galaxy. Since then, several businesses have benefited from our proprietary solution with additional customization as per their specific use cases. The Challenge The key requirement was to move away from existing solutions which made it difficult to have complete control over data due to storage on external servers. Additionally, the flexibility of integrating with multiple apps was not available for most solutions. Limitations of Existing Solutions Recurring cost (per user license) can turn out to be a significant expense considering enterprises as well as business looking to scale up Lack of options for integrating with third party applications No option of customizing features based on specific use cases of a business Lack of security and data control due to third party cloud storage Limited privacy controls for users in a particular organization or account Proposed Solution After the initial exploration of the challenges and reviewing the capabilities of the existing solutions, our team came up with a product development plan and roadmap for a secure business communication solution that would be an affordable yet flexible alternative. The Galaxy product engineering team used the agile approach for developing and testing the first version of the application. From a requirement gathering perspective, the team evaluated all popular business communication tools and tried to relate them with the needs of the end users. Key Deliverable Web Application Android App Admin Console for User Management & Reporting Desktop Application – Windows, Mac, Ubuntu iOS App Maintenance & Updates Development Stages 1 Research & Exploration 2 UI/UX Design 3 Web App Development 4 Desktop App Development 5 Research for Mobile App 6 Android & iOS App Development 7 QA and Bug Fixing 8 Final Review with Stakeholders 9 Publishing the application 10 Maintenance and Upgrades Key Feature Enhancements Audio/Video Calling Our team used WebRTC for developing the audio/video calling capabilities for the application. In addition to ensuring a lag-free communication, we were also able to ensure data security as well as communication security with the use of relevant protocols. Conferencing & Group Chat(up to 40-50 concurrent users) Most commercial solutions often run into issues like video quality drop, voice lag, and screen freeze when there are more than 10 users. Our solution was optimized to provide seamless communication for sessions having 40-50 concurrent users. Instant Messaging We developed secure instant messaging features using WebRTC that prevents text communication from being intercepted through various attacks. The system supports common input types along with emojis and icons that are available on all existing solutions. File Sharing Our team ensured the safety of all file transfers within the application with the use of advanced data security algorithms. Additionally, we hosted the entire data on a personal server to allow complete control of all data. The files are only made available within the organization’s account and has no traces for public visibility. Screen Sharing & Whiteboard WebRTC also enabled us to execute seamless screen-sharing with high quality rendering of the shared screen. The usability is similar to existing solutions so the user does not require an additional learning curve to use this feature. The whiteboard features have multiple options that can be activated from the backend as per the collaboration requirement. Delivery & Deployment The app was successfully launched for the web and desktop platforms first. This was followed by the launch of the mobile apps. As of now, the team is engaged with the maintenance and continuous upgrade of the application. Galaxy’s R&D team is currently working on integrating AI-driven capabilities like sentiment analysis. Value Creation & Impact of the Solution Commercial Impact From a business perspective, the direct commercial benefit of this solution is the elimination of recurring costs (per user license). For enterprises, this is a huge saving from their overheads. For businesses looking to scale up, this solution helps to improve productivity and also eliminate license costs while expanding the team size. Impact on Team Performance Based on the feedback received from all the groups that were involved in the testing as well as actual usage of the solution, the team saw 27% improvement in productivity over 30 days. Moreover, the added security reassured the team members to communicate without worrying about information breach. Impact on Brand Equity Brands today are expanding globally with the help of virtual teams and in such scenarios, communication plays a key role. With a customizable solution, organizations can implement their SOPs seamlessly and conduct meetings with high audio/video quality. For employees, this shows that the brand is committed to ensuring the availability of the right tools to help them succeed. Platform for Future Innovation BizTalk.Online started as an affordable business communication solution. However, the proprietary solution has laid down the foundation for supporting future innovation by ensuring flexibility of integration and high level of customization as per different use cases. Our R&D team is currently in the process of developing and integrating sentiment analysis for text and voice communication which would allow managers to assess the team sentiments based on multiple conversations.