Dotbox helps micro and small businesses to manage their operations by providing real-time cloud-based information.
At Soft Cloud, we want to build a software to help people better manage their businesses. We knew from experience that the main reasons why micro and small businesses close or do not grow are due to poor management or lack of business information to make informed decisions.
We wanted to create a cloud-based application that would automate and simplify challenging processes, be intuitive, and assist small business owners in growing their businesses while having more time for themselves and their families.
Dotbox was designed as an accessible, user-friendly, intuitive, real-time solution without user or session limits. Being cloud-based, it does not require installation and can run on any internet-connected device.
It took us 6 years of planning and development, with 2 UI versions and countless cups of coffee. With the help of several companies that acted as our advisors, testing functions and suggesting ways to improve them, we created a product ready for the market.
Running a business requires a lot of information, so we aimed to make the platform's navigation as intuitive as possible. We conducted extensive testing and interviews with administrators and business owners to achieve a result that met our objectives.
Low-fidelity schematics for usability testing.
Dotbox takes its name from the early systems used to manage a business. In the early 1800s, the cash box where daily income (usually coins) was stored was called a "dot box." In 1879, the first automatic cash register (the Ritty model) was created to record and control the sales revenue of a business. Dotbox is the digital solution to an age-old problem - finally having control over your business.
A design system that grows with the application, featuring reusable components that help generate modules and functionalities faster and with less code.
I programmed the screens in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, allowing the back-end team to easily integrate them with the services and development platform. This reduced programming time and made it much easier to incorporate new functionalities, animations, and interactions in subsequent versions after the launch.
One of the most common problems businesses face is not having accurate and updated inventories. Usually, our users take 8 to 10 hours conducting inventories with an average of 4,500 products, often having to work at night and incurring additional labor costs by paying overtime wages and conducting inventories after closing.
With Dotbox, we created a process where users can conduct inventories and sales simultaneously, reducing the time to an average of 4 hours for complete it.
Lucía Hernández
“Dotbox helped me realize that there was internal theft in my business. Now, I make more informed decisions and have the confidence to grow my business. Thank you very much!”