CyberOffice eCommerce - Product History & Development

- To those who are interested in the development of the products and the philosophy underneath.
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SmartWin's CyberOffice family software has two product lines. The first one, a patented CyberOffice Communicator (CyberCommunicator, formerly SmartWin CyberOffice) released in 1998 represented a breakthrough, thanks to the inventor Dr. Y. Chen, a former professor of theoretical physics (a Ph. D from University of Illinois, and a student of Tony Leggett, 2007 Noble Prize Winner in Physics). The software operates a so-called CyberOffice Network, an inter-connected network of dynamic PC Web sites, on which instant, guided human interactivity is implemented. This includes for example live voice-over-IP customer support, or call center operation. To date, the full potential of the patent is still under exploration.

Having set the CyberOffice Network up and running, we were then on a track to add various eCommerce components to enhance the usability of the system.  

CyberShop:

Hence, SmartWin's second product line started with CyberOffice Shopping Cart in 1998. Microsoft IIS was chosen as the platform for speedy development and ease of customization by users. ODBC is used so that new databases can be included (so far it covers MS Access, MS SQL Server, Sybase and MySQL. We look to work on Oracle). CyberShop is designed to work with any existing sites, any HTML authoring tools. It works as a component that provides such services. To hook a product into CyberShop, users simply add a buy button on any page (a few lines of codes with simple syntax).

A set of core functions are condensed into a DLL, which we maintain and update to provide bug fixes and new functionality. The front-end pages (that customers see) are open to customizations. Custom fields and new functionality can be freely added. Over times advanced functions such as coupon discount, affiliate tracking and reporting tool, real-time inventory, batch import/export, interface to accounting software, paid download, real-time shipping modules, and tens of payment gateways are added, without or with minimum changes to the front-end. A more recent one is a triple-DES encryption on credit card numbers or any sensitive fields. This complies with increasingly strong security measures exerted by banks and payment gateways and eCommerce laws in the United States. The shop manager can even take offline (e.g. phone) orders at ease. We are moving toward a total business solution for SME. For example, SMS messaging integration will be the next to add on....

CyberShop is probably one of the most powerful shopping cart programs in terms of capacity. And all the features were demanded by its users. So they are practically useful and user-friendly. Our philosophy is to follow the intuition and instinct. Shop owners and their customers should not be required to think or resort to help before they use the software.

CyberBuild:

As CyberShop gained popularity, we were under pressure to provide a database driven catalog builder, to compliment with the shopping cart. We do this in two steps. First there is a straight built-in product database and search facility in CyberShop. Users (who design the sites) can invoke it with an idiot-proof one-line coding. We then devoted most of the efforts to build an industrial strength, a turnkey system that has the scalability to handle millions of products at ease (and it does for Out of Print Music with over a million collections of albums). One of our first clients was a computer wholesaler with some 70 loosely-bounded retailer outlets (Unfortunately, the company collapsed lately due to the IT down turn). The wholesaler wanted to build an online catalog not just for themselves, but to the benefit of the entire retail chain. Nevertheless, these retailers would not have to compete each other on prices.

Hence here came the Franchise Virtual Warehouse business concept, one centralized database, any number of storefronts, with its own pricing control and and customer database. This is our CyberOffice Warehouse Builder (CyberBuild) program. A unique technology is employed so that the storefronts can reside under any platform, any server. They are simple HTML pages with dynamic contents generated by JavaScript querying the central database. When promoting certain products the central server can push advertising contents throughout the storefronts. On the other hand, the storefronts can look as distinct as one likes. Our design principle of customizability and usability is retained. Although it comes with an easy-to-adopt template, CyberBuild is primarily offered as a development tools with full documentation for developers to build their own systems.

If that sounded easy, then extending the concept to CyberOffice Franchise Builder would be trivial. Inspired again by a client's requirement for a parts industry, CyberMall lets the central administrator maintain a set of common products, and yet each participating vendor (or merchant) can set their prices or upload additional products. Again, the vendor/merchant can open a franchise storefront showing only their products / selections. Being just an out-of-box product that explores the power of CyberBuild and its companions, CyberMall is unprecedented. It has taken a long, three hard years time to improve the usability and coherence of the integrated system. We are now very pleased to what it can do for our clients. Virtually anything that you practically needed.

CyberClub:

An add-on to CyberBuild and CyberShop is CyberOffice Club, a membership module that keeps track of both customers and merchants. In addition to provide a means of authentication for the other two components, CyberClub comes with standard membership functions such as bulletin board, newsletter, and self-update etc. With the addition of CyberClub, CyberShop can now remember the customers. Functions such as loyalty points reward, corporate account etc can be introduced. Wish list (unlimited in the number of lists) is another big plus for CyberShop. An authorized sales agent can place orders for repeated customers. When working with CyberBuild, it can be used to set up different pricing levels for different groups. CyberClub is even more important for a captive market. It can be used to impose the pricing matrix down to individual customers.

CyberClub also works on its own merits. It provides membership subscription services, real-time auto renewal, or paid views to restricted area.

Most recent CyberShop users, and almost all CyberBuild sites use CyberClub as it comes so handy.

Summary:

Our design guideline or philosophy is universality, customizability, scalability and reliability.  Great software takes times to improve. And the programs become more and more mature with every release over the SEVEN years. We are very proud that SmartWin's CyberOffice eCommerce Platform has being gaining the popularity and is widely used by thousands of organizations across all major languages. Our strong and open-minded software team and partners will continue to help our clients to accomplish their business goals. Your success is OUR goal.

Even if you start small (so were we), SmartWin provides a migration path to the far reaching destine you can dream of. So do join us.

We are located in the beautiful city of Melbourne, Australia. It is the world's most livable city and here the only grand slam open tennis championship in the southern hemisphere takes place every January (when it is freezing up in the north part of the earth). SmartWin Technology Pty Ltd (ABN: 89 088 513 731) is a software house that specializes in providing affordable, Adaptable, and complete e-commerce solutions for small to medium-size companies (now also major corporate). Founded in 1997, it currently has a large, on-demand pool of energetic programmers / Web designers worldwide who support the products (covering all the popular languages).

With its pioneering development work, SmartWin Technology was proudly invited to "Software and Technology Forum" sponsored by Ernst and Young (Australia, 2000). The forum represents around 30 emerging technologies in Australia. One of the products, CyberOffice Shopping Cart was awarded the 1999 Brother Business Software Award Finalist (Channel Nine Small Business Show). And CyberOffice Communicator was based a patented technology as mentioned above.

Currently, SmartWin is actively pursuing opportunities to market it flagship CyberOffice eCommerce Platform, actually an enhanced version of it, CyberOffice B2B Portal Builder (CyberPortal) to the US government and DoD supplier chain market, with some success already.