Catalyst helps ConstructionBOS speed up time to market with serverless microservices for customers

Catalyst helps integrate data from third-party web applications into Zoho CRM to drive real-time data access and management for their customers, wherever and whenever needed.

Saint Gobain
 

“With Catalyst, we were able to serve our customers better by getting new services to them faster. Building the microservice on Catalyst was easy! We never had to deal with infrastructure management. We just wrote a code and deployed it.”

—Craig Mulcahy , CEO

Construction BOS

Introduction

Based in Wicklow, Ireland, ConstructionBOS is a Zoho Partner that offers vertical CRM and services to construction companies. They specialize in providing vertical CRM solutions for construction suppliers/professionals, contractors, and financial institutions. Their clientele predominantly consists of vendors who supply bricks, bathroom tiling, and woodwork for commercial and residential projects.

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    The challenge

    Projects in the construction industry often take anywhere from two to 10 years to complete, requiring sales teams from the construction supply companies, like ConstructionBOS, to stay aligned with ongoing construction activities over a long period of time and help better serve customers with prompt product deliveries. With their previous management system. data became outdated quickly and needed constant updating, which had to be done manually.

    ConstructionBOS's customers were required to download latest data from their third-party data providers’ web application and analyze that data using spreadsheets, and they had to do this manually every time. This was a complex process taking up valuable time and effort, and leaving the company with no way to keep track of data in real time.

    ConstructionBOS needed seamless and real-time access to data and to achieve that, they were able to build a microservice using Catalyst and deploy it within Zoho CRM.

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    The solution

    Microservice powered by Catalyst

    ConstructionBOS used Catalyst serverless computing to create a microservice to fetch the data they needed from construction companies in specific geographic locations. Entirely built and hosted on Catalyst, the microservice helps ConstructionBOS's customers secure regional data and apply specific filters to fetch data. This data is fetched from the third-party service every night and synced to the Catalyst Data Store. The filters are based on various parameters such as location, stage of the project, construction type, contract type, categories, and development type within Zoho CRM.

    The microservice also updates data every night so the sales teams can stay specifically updated on the Deals created in the CRM pipeline. The service interacts with the data from the data provider and integrates that into the CRM through APIs, keeping everything updated regularly.

Catalyst features that ConstructionBOS found helpful

  • Functions
  • API Gateway
  • Data Store
  • File Store
  • Email notifications
 

Functions

Catalyst Functions help sync update data at regular periodic intervals in the microservice. These functions include the following:

  • Event Function
  • Cron Function
  • Advanced I/O Function
 

API Gateway

The API Gateway establishes security and authenticates users on the platform.

 

Data Store

A relational database management system for your application development needs.

 

File Store

A scalable and secure file storage management system.

 

Email notifications

The email notification service triggers automated notifications.

The benefits and ROI

Using Zoho CRM and Catalyst, ConstructionBOS was able to minimize the strenuous cycles of using complicated spreadsheets and is now able to access real-time data on the go.

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    Using the microservice, the sales team simplified data management in the CRM.

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    The teams can now access detailed, drilled down and real-time information on their customers projects in a few clicks.

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    The saved searches from data providers’ web applications are now automatically synced with Zoho CRM saved searches.

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    Users can now apply precise filters to fetch data in any required category.

Why Catalyst?

Web Client Hosting on Catalyst will ensure smooth consistency in your web application with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

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    Easy to use

    Catalyst serverless platform was significantly easier to use when compared to other complex cloud platforms which were previously used by the company.

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    Faster time to market

    The microservice was built and deployed in a short duration (approximately six months), which ConstructionBOS’ customers found helpful.

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    Zoho advantage

    Working with Zoho CRM and Catalyst was effortless due to the smooth API transactions between the services in Zoho’s ecosystem.

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