Yotme is our US-based start-up client who operates a SaaS powered Event Management and Event Marketing CRM platform for web and mobile. It is a multi-sided web service providing experiential marketing solutions to nonprofits, brands and event agencies, allowing them to manage virtual, in-person and silent auction events as well as supports customer relationships management in this context; on the other hand, the platform enables individual consumers to join peer-to-peer communities and identify socially impactful events they would like to attend and/or contribute to.

This combination of a social network and a CRM enables nonprofits and brands to plan, ticket and manage events, invite supporters and market events via social, email, SMS and push notifications, manage the communities of their supporters/sponsors, as well as monitor / analyse the event-related data for insights and impact.

The client engaged us to build an app module for handling silent auctions on their web and mobile platform. We were to implement the desktop first module for the service yot.me, which would allow the user to plan, ticket, market and manage auction events. The solution was meant to run free, ticketed and donation led virtual, in-person and silent auction events. The bidders did not have to attend an event to support a cause, which was expected to lead to more remote bidders and new supporters to join in and contribute to the events.

The client approached us with a project overview and well-crafted higher-level specifications of the overall system. We worked collaboratively with the client Product Owner to sequence the work for greatest business value, specify an MVP (minimum feature set), develop more detailed specs for implementation as well as to design and develop the system in an agile/scrum process.

Yotme Silent Auctions is a set of system features which support the process of silent auctions set-up and management. The system allows the user to run automated silent auctions via web and mobile from anywhere in the world. Items are listed in the same way as on eBay, while bidder information and payments are collected and reconciled in the existing client CRM. The client’s customers can access and use the client’s unique social network functionality to reach and attract supporters. Importantly, a bidder does not have to attend an event to support a cause of their choice, which attracts more potential bidders.

The auction owner can create auctions in a dedicated format. They can decide on auction details and add multiple items to each auction. The owner can execute auctions, get payment status updates and outbid if needed. On the other hand, the bidders can attend auctions and support multiple causes. The bidder can add and manage favourite auctions and items, bid through the app, and get information about the bid by email.

The software system was built with the technology stack based on React.js, Redux and the Stripe payment system.