Creating Salestrekker 2.0

When we initially created Salestrekker, our goal was to digitalise everything in the loan origination process. At the onset of Covid19 in early 2020, we realised that we reached our goal. Brokers in Australia and New Zealand could operate their businesses from any place in the world, without needing to be physically present with their client. Being fully digital at that time was a standout feature to have.

However, this was also one of the triggers to start the work on the new version of Salestrekker. Another reason to look into the future was the increased pace of technology change. We wanted to upgrade the frameworks used for Salestrekker and make sure it was mobile friendly, so we went to work.

We employed more talent in Australia, Serbia and Brazil, selected new frameworks and methodologies, then went on building back-end and front-end components.

With everything now digitalised, we asked what was important in building Salestrekker 2.0? The list captured:

• Speed and scalability
• Friendlier design for better mobile apps
• Improved customisation and personalisation options
• More automation
• Better broker tools and quick tools
• Adding Commercial tools
• Be ready for Open Banking
• Client portal personalised customer journeys
• Logging of everything that happens in the CRM
• Making tasks functional
• Finding ways to save user's processing time
• Adding premium features
• Refined user management and permissions
• Improved data security and more

Starting our phased development

Our first step was to work out improved user management, refined security, and permissions. Then we selected a new database. In that process we worked closely with AWS (Amazon) and utilised many proven solutions. Even in Salestrekker 1.0, we regularly tested improved frameworks and coding techniques, so we were clear on how the both back-end and front-end will work together.

We created the front-end components that are necessary for screen building, mobile use and overall application performance. This was all the background work, involving multiple developers and teams on three continents.

Working in three time zones was challenging for team productivity and communications. We tested some components, and not completely satisfied we went back to the start with some and rebuilt them for the perfect outcome.

We spent a lot of time looking for ways to improve user productivity. We created a Broker Advisory Board, with several key high volume users, who had valuable suggestions and improvement ideas. We collated those with ideas and feedback collected throughout years and went on to select what we thought was a priority and 'implementable'.

Then we started building screens, testing them and adding more. In the background, we refined data models, business logic and more back-end magic to make it all work cohesively. And we moved to our new Sydney office! More space for training, customer meetings and for our new team members.

Salestrekker is a comprehensivesolution with many features. Getting all of this rebuilt from scratch, while adding new improvements requires a lot of time, dedication, and hard work. The biggest challenge so far was actually staying on target with the deployment timeline.

With about a month left before the launch of Salestrekker 2.0, it all looks and smells like a new home. There is some wiring and plumbing to be added and some finishing decorative touches, before the furniture and occupants move in.

What’s coming next? Salestrekker Premium and Loantrekker, but more on those next time...

These are exciting times ahead! Feel free to get in touch with me if you'd like to know more about Saletrekker 2.0, I would be happy to assist.

Dalibor.