Baas enables cloud-based Enterprise address book applications to become a reality

As early as 2012, modus create was unable to effectively manage its wide range of employee contact information. After implementing a small internal solution to the problem, the company, which focuses on HTML5 application development and training for large enterprises, moved to the cloud as a cloud of users and providers to provide sophisticated cloud-based enterprise address book applications. This technology makes the back-end service (Baas) a reality.

Baas is a substitute for mobile middleware, a cloud service approach that connects back-end services to the front-end of mobile applications. The technology may be relatively new, but the adoption rate is rising rapidly. Analysis agency MarketsandMarkets reported that the Baas market will reach $7.7 billion by 2017, compared with $216.5 million in 2012. Annual growth rate reached 104%.

Especially for businesses that want to deploy mobile apps in the cloud, Baas is like a promising approach. According to the modus create example, its employees can use, build, and consult mobile applications across four different countries.

In the 2013, modus create was evolving, "but we're a very flat company," said Patrick Sheridan, CEO of Modus create. "Under this concept, we should build our own HTML5 corporate address book, Because we always try to find the contact in our email signature. ”

After building a back-end prototype with Ruby on Rails, modus create has what Sheridan says is "poor communication thin" for internal communication. You can store information around 50 people, a page with an Administrator console at the back end, and a user-friendly interface for mobile users. Employees can easily get information about their manager or other colleagues, just use this alphabetical list of contacts.

"Initially, we didn't feel that it exceeded our own needs," Sheridan said, "But when we put it on the site, a major communications company contacted us and said they were interested in our mobile apps." ”

This is when modus create starts to consider building an improved and able to sell application version. At the time, the company was only using two developers, a Ruby on Rails developer, a back-end JavaScript developer, and a part-time web designer. The entire modus create team consists of 22 people, including engineers, designers, and managers.

"We start to think what can we do?" does a front-end developer know a little bit about what the backend can do? Sheridan said. The answers to these questions are hopeless. It is time-consuming and expensive to build an application backend.

The company then quickly turned to the back-end service.

"The backend, the service, is a supplemental overlay of our functionality, so we can focus on the front end," Sheridan explains, "and we're interested in dreamfactory because the platform, the service, is part of the new stack that we see in the application." Dreamfactory lets us not do Web or application hosting, but has a rich API environment that can be managed and extended to applications and infrastructure. Another selling point of dreamfactory is the fact that full SQL support. ”

Dreamfactory is located in California, and its service platform is charged to open source packages, providing a backend for HTML5 application development. There is a unique approach to cloud deployment choices, "We provide a comprehensive suite of services that can be installed on any cloud, as long as the cloud supports HTML or built-in client-style interfaces," Dreamfactory CTO Bill Appleton said. Modus create determines the deployment of Amazon Web services resilient computing cloud.

The project began in February in 2013, and Dreamfactory added new backend features, including group management capabilities. For example, users can classify contacts based on group classification by customer or project. It also adds client-oriented contacts that make it easier to keep in touch with the right customer organization. It also includes internal social media integration, extending the link to Twitter and shype.

Dreamfactory provides these backend performance, the developer of modus create looks like an application front-end. As Sheridan pointed out, they were able to build the high-end user experience of mobile delivery and did not deviate from the front-end code.

"The whole application is a URL that determines whether you are using a desktop or phone, redirecting users to correct the user interface, mainly based on device judgment," Sheridan said. "Our designers have stepped in and changed the way the user interface is designed for mobile phones and tablets." ”

The final application was deployed on March 31, 3 months less than expected. Now, Sheridan wants to use modus create experience to build an application that can be implemented through Dreamfactory to allow its customers to operate BAAS markets.