I have been asked by a trusted contact to implement a complete technology solution for over 15 real estate agency franchises he is acquiring. They all run on their own ad-hoc systems at the moment so they are basically 15 different systems. The goal is to get up and running with a robust platform that can cover the following and expand as and when new offices open:
- managing all customer data (crm functionality)
- storing all documentation centrally and securely (contracts, documents etc for each office plus shared documents provided by the master franchiser)
- email with calendars, blackberry support etc (I think hosted Exchange?)
- managing property listings, photos, floorplans, data sheets, flyers etc
- a shared collaboration space like MS sharepoint but I personally don't think SP is useable for the target audience, likewise wiki might be too technical
- conference calls, video conference (is Skype viable for business use?)
This is a lot more low tech than the usual HN startup but I wonder if the good people of HN could share their thoughts or recommendations. Thanks.
Also, I personally feel this approach is being realistic and respectful to the staff that it is hard to articulate all the needs until a user gets their hands dirty with the solution. I also try not to use the word requirements with non-technical clients, instead opting for "Needs", "Wants", "Dreams" or something along those lines.
None of the project sounds hard technically, but it will take time and have some frustrations I imagine.
But I could easily see a Salesforce + Google (email, gdrive, calendar) + FreeConferenceCall (or something similar) + Skype. Most of that is low hanging. If they don't want to use the Cloud providers though, then you have a much larger and tougher task, not to mention way more expensive.