Description

SmartEdgeCRM is a custom-built Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system developed to empower businesses to manage leads, customer data, and communication workflows effectively. The system was designed for a mid-sized service-oriented company that lacked centralized customer handling, lead nurturing, and follow-up capabilities. My role as a Full Stack Developer was to lead the end-to-end design, development, deployment, and maintenance of the CRM solution tailored to the client’s specific operational needs.

Objectives:

The primary goal of the SmartEdgeCRM project was to:

• Centralize all customer and lead-related data.
• Automate repetitive sales and follow-up tasks.
• Provide real-time insights through dashboards and reports.
• Ensure team collaboration across departments like sales, marketing, and support.
• Integrate with external platforms like email, SMS, and WhatsApp for communication.
• Manage tasks, reminders, and escalations in a timely manner.
• Enhance client retention by improving the customer service experience.

Key Features:

1. Dashboard & Reporting:
   • Dynamic dashboard with real-time metrics: total leads, follow-ups due, sales closed, hot/warm/cold lead segmentation, and revenue projections.
   • Exportable reports for sales performance, conversion ratios, lead aging, and pipeline stage analysis.
2. Lead Management:
   • Manual and API-based lead creation.
   • Auto-categorization of leads based on source (website, ads, referrals, walk-in).
   • Lead assignment rules (round-robin, top performer, manual).
   • Timeline view of all lead interactions.
   • Tagging and filtering based on status, interest level, and follow-up history.
3. Customer Profile Management:
   • Full 360-degree view of every customer including contact info, past purchases, support tickets, preferences, and communication logs.
   • Attachment support (documents, invoices, call recordings).
   • Custom fields to adapt to unique business needs.
4. Follow-ups & Reminders:
   • Reminder system with email/SMS/WhatsApp notifications.
   • Follow-up history timeline.
   • Auto-reminders to sales agents and customers.
   • Follow-up status tracking: pending, done, postponed, not interested.
5. Task & Activity Management:
   • Task creation and assignment to team members.
   • Priority levels and due dates.
   • Daily/weekly planner for individual users.
   • Activity feed with real-time updates for admins and managers.
6. User Roles & Permissions:
   • Role-based access (admin, manager, sales executive, support staff).
   • Custom permission control per module.
   • Activity logs for accountability.
7. Communication Integration:
   • Email integration (Gmail/SMTP APIs).
   • WhatsApp messaging through official APIs.
   • SMS gateway for lead updates and reminders.
   • Communication logs stored per lead/customer.
8. Sales Funnel & Pipeline:
   • Visual pipeline tracking (New → Contacted → Qualified → Proposal Sent → Closed).
   • Drag-and-drop movement between stages.
   • Probability-based forecasting.
   • Time spent in each stage for bottleneck identification.
9. Notifications & Alerts:
   • Push/email alerts for assigned leads, overdue tasks, and escalations.
   • Notification center with dismiss or snooze options.
   • Alert escalation to managers if overdue beyond threshold.
10. Settings & Configuration:

• Master data configuration (lead sources, products, services, regions).
• Custom workflow creation (for approvals, lead statuses).
• Email and WhatsApp templates with dynamic variable support.

Technologies Used:

• Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Blade (Laravel templating), Livewire
• Backend: Laravel (PHP Framework) with MVC and Clean Architecture
• Database: MySQL
• Authentication: Laravel Sanctum
• Integrations: Twilio/Msg91 (SMS), WhatsApp Cloud API, Gmail SMTP
• Hosting & Deployment: Apache Server on Ubuntu VPS, deployed via Git
• Other Tools: jQuery, Chart.js for analytics, Laravel Queue for asynchronous messaging, Cron Jobs for daily reminders

Architecture:

The system was built using Modular MVC architecture to support future scalability. Each major module (Leads, Customers, Users, Tasks, Reports) was separated using Laravel’s Service and Repository design patterns. The clean folder structure and SOLID principles ensured high maintainability and testability.

Challenges Faced & Solutions:

1. Challenge: Initial hesitation from sales team to adopt CRM.
   Solution: Created a mobile-responsive web version and added WhatsApp-based lead assignment notifications to increase adoption.
2. Challenge: Leads were getting missed due to manual tracking.
   Solution: Added auto-reminders, color-coded statuses, and escalations for overdue follow-ups.
3. Challenge: Company had multiple service lines with different follow-up flows.
   Solution: Designed dynamic lead stages and workflows configurable by admin for each service category.
4. Challenge: High delay in task closure reporting.
   Solution: Introduced activity feed and daily reporting to managers via email.

Impact & Outcome:

• Lead response time reduced by 40%.
• Conversion rate increased by 22% in the first 3 months.
• Team coordination and transparency improved significantly.
• Management gained full visibility of sales pipeline and bottlenecks.
• Customer complaints regarding lack of communication dropped by 30%.

Conclusion:

SmartEdgeCRM became a central part of the client’s sales and support ecosystem. The system’s flexibility allowed the business to adapt it across different teams without needing separate tools. With data-driven decision-making, proactive follow-ups, and seamless communication, SmartEdgeCRM enabled the business to enhance both productivity and client satisfaction. As the system continues to evolve, future enhancements planned include AI-based lead scoring, chatbot integration, and advanced analytics dashboards.