Team Messaging and Collaboration Platform for an Ambitious Technology Startup

Advanced Platform Architecture

Unlike many other messaging tools on the market, Leverice was built as a platform. The key advantage of this approach is the possibility of creating unlimited apps to extend the platform core. The core was designed to be very compact, with most of the messaging functionality built inside the “Default application”. Whenever a new team workspace is created in Leverice, it represents an activated platform microkernel with the default application deployed inside it.

The platform architecture provides unlimited possibilities for external developers to create any custom apps. There is no need for traditional REST API or JSON. There’s tight integration with the small platform core and almost endless customization possibilities. Architecture of this type, in particular, helped to deploy a set of custom applications with specific functionality designed for specific target audiences, including:

• Software development teams;
• E-learning companies;
• Legal teams and practices;
• Marketing teams — and many more…

Tailor-made communication interface

This is the key focal point of the platform and its primary innovation. GP Solutions engineered a unique communication workflow according to the vision and specifications provided by Leverice. Above all, the flow was built to ensure the following:

Leverice offers multidimensional messaging and collaboration based on topical discussion. It relies on a multi-level channel structure. Each main communication channel can accommodate multiple sub-channels dedicated to specific discussions or topics. Thus, the platform segments team communication into separate, meaningful blocks which do not interfere with one another.

Studies reveal that whenever a person gets distracted from the main topic while messaging, it takes up to 25 minutes to get back to the topic. In order to eliminate distractions as much as possible, our team implemented intuitive routing functionality. It can move any new discussion into a separate channel in just a few clicks. Besides, every channel is provided with access controls to define which users can be allowed in. These features combined brought distractions from the main topic to a minimum and led to much better team productivity.

One of the key project goals was to offer Leverice messaging platform to the market in various versions for maximum coverage of the target audience.

First, our team developed a client- and a web version that covered the most popular online browsers. The next step was to offer efficient product versions to mobile users. To achieve this, we designed native iOS and Android applications and provided complete tech support to Leverice for successful submission and approval of the apps to the relevant app stores. In addition, we engineered another platform version in the form of a Progressive Web Application — a modern technology for the installation of cross-platform apps on any smartphone.

Upon the release of the first market-fit platform version, our team continued to extend it with new features and functions. We managed to implement:

• Multiple deep integrations with 3rd-party solutions, including Zoom, TeamCity, Jira, GitHub, etc.;
• “Guest” feature for quick transfer of any external user to a Leverice workspace;
• Pop-up whiteboards for instant real-time collaboration with selected teammates;
• “Relay” feature is designed to assign tasks to teammates and control how they are fulfilled directly via the messaging interface.