In early 2015 DDA began making plans for a new application for the new Clover point-of-sale device. The Clover point-of-sale device is an innovative computing tablet that pairs with a wide range of applications available to its store for information processing and management, from accepting payments and organizing inventory to a host of other business information-processing needs. Recognizing the dearth of applications available to simply keep employees and management connected to deliver the best service possible, DDA decided to create its own application for the Clover device.
The Connected Company Clover business application would offer numerous features to keep communications clear among both management and employees. The application would allow individuals to send messages to all staff, particular groups, or any combination of individuals within a given company, with the employer able to define groups for this purpose. Managers would be able to decide whether or not employees can respond to any given message, or whether or not they can message one another. After sending a message, one would be able to see whether or not the message was read or not, helping to prevent liability issues and protect the company.
DDA built out the app with the aim of keeping it as intuitive as possible to use. Five preset categories of messages were built into the app, each color coded to indicate degree of importance. People using the app could pin messages for future reference, and sent messages could be saved as a template for future messages. Messages could be sorted by date created, sent, type, title, number of recipients, and number of readers, in addition to individual recipients, groups, and worker roles. Messages can tag inventory items for when a particular product is mentioned in a message. Managers can also set up an employee suggestion box to help facilitate ongoing feedback with staff. New messages are always pushed to the front of the screen for fast notification. Finally, the Connected Company business application ensures that all communications are Clover-level secure and HIPAA compliant to ensure privacy.
DDA also developed a small responsive website to promote the new business application. The website serves as a great visually focused summary of everything the Connected Company business application can do and how it can improve workplace communications to enhance productivity and protect managers' interests. The responsive website features large, high resolution background images that scroll at a substantially slower rate than the rest of the site (parallax-scrolling website) to give it a sense of depth, often described as 2.5D. The site also includes a menu that is fixed to the top of the browser window at all times for effortless navigation, and many of the icons and texts featured on the website appear in an animated fashion once they come within the browser window to enhance engagement and interest among the viewer. A button is integrated at the top to allow users to begin their 30-day free trial right away.
The Connected Company Clover business application is another example of the innovative things that can be accomplished through collaborative interactive multimedia design and development. Thanks to the secure nature of communications on the Clover business application, Connected Company can even be used to facilitate communications in healthcare settings such as doctor's offices and the like. And, thanks to the elegant and modern parallax-scrolling responsive website used to promote the app, potential users will be able to understand the unique value this business application represents for users of the Clover point-of-sale device.