CLIENT : TAGG

INTRODUCTION

‘Technical talent is not only hard to find. It’s hard to find tech talent that understands how a business works and operates.’ said Leslie Fischer, Co-Owner of TAGG (Together a Greater Good). ‘With Eric (LyncStream Owner) and the team, they not only could help us make our business viable, they could help us through the business cycle since they understand both the technical element and the overall operations of the business. That kind of applicable technical background is nearly impossible to find. Most importantly, our success is their success and more than anything, LyncStream wants us to succeed.’

We thrive when our partners thrive. When Leslie Fischer and Holly Baker, Owners of TAGG, came to us we knew we wanted to help and we knew we could. Their beautifully crafted charitable concept was a unique way for anyone AND everyone to give back to businesses and causes they’re passionate about, without having to spend another dime. 

HOW THE APP WORKS

The model works like this – a customer downloads the application, then shops at a wide range of restaurants, shops, grocery stores, real estate companies, insurance, etc. and a portion of that purchase goes back to whatever causes (school, church, etc) the user is passionate about. A win-win for all!

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM

The problem Leslie and Holly had was similar to many of our partners. The user interface wasn’t built to scale, but their business model was. We stepped in to help them ensure that not only their business could scale, but that their customers would have the easiest and best user experience possible along the way. Not only would this ensure future growth, but also would ensure a framework that could and would be able to scale. 

‘The application was previously built without a high priority on scalability,’ explained  LyncStream Software Developer, Luke Fulliton. ‘We improved their applications performance and are continuing to work on architectural changes to assist TAGG with their desires to expand the availability of the application.’

BUILDING THE SOLUTION

Through identifying and understanding their business model and goals, LyncStream was able to build a user interface for consumers to submit receipts for business transactions and select organizations that they want to support utilizing part of the proceeds of the transaction.  The Admin Portal then provides a user interface for TAGG to manage this process. 

‘LyncStream has helped move TAGG as an MVP app to something that we are able to scale into multiple markets making us more viable’ said Fischer. ‘From database structure to lifecycle management to restructuring of the app for Android and IOS – we wouldn’t be where we are today without the dedicated team at LyncStream.’

The technologies utilized in this project included C# .NET Core, .NET Framework, Kotlin Android, Swift iOS, SQL, Kendo MVC & JQuery.  LyncStream converted the TAGG Xamarin mobile application to a native iOS and Android application while working with the TAGG business owners to develop a new user interface and improve the users’ TAGGing experience in many ways, including adding location based business searches and streamlining the receipt TAGGing process.  

As part of this effort LyncStream migrated TAGG from their WCF service to utilize Web APIs while also enhancing and improving the user authentication and authorization process.  Updating the authentication and authorization process also positioned the TAGG application well for future growth efforts identified by the business, including centralizing user authentication and supporting native and web applications. 

RELATIONSHIP FIRST

‘For us it was more about the relationship and Eric understands that’ explained Leslie. ‘He cares that we succeed and we can tell. We’re not just ‘ticket #5’ to the team at LyncStream. They genuinely want us to be successful so we truly appreciate the relationship and the advice and feedback the team at LyncStream is always willing to provide.’