Directorist Year In Review 2022

All the chaos of 2022, from the Ukraine war to Inflations, culminated in a devastatingly glorious World Cup.

The WC made us gasp with Brazil being defeated and Argentina boasting who really knew the game against the favorite but ambitious maverick and newcomer, Kylian Mbappe. And here we are just watching through our computers. 

Technology is at the forefront, and we are the ones winning everyone their games. Where would 2022 be without Directorist, the flagship product of wpWax under our parent company, SovWare? 

The world won’t fit in the stadium. That’s why the team Directorist made it its mission to develop far-reaching software with the least failures.

In 2022, we have converted numerous projects and concepts to codes and created the perfect methods for product building. We have satisfied unnumbered clients with risk-free software. Let 2023 bring all its surprises because we can’t wait to succeed. Now here we go with the things we did back in 2022.

Overall Growth in Percent

The year 2022 was amazing for our flagship product, Directorist. It has grabbed almost a 65.65% surplus in revenue, compared to the year of 2021.

Directorist, the Winner of Monster’s Award 2022 

Directorist has been honored to be nominated for Monster’s Award 2022 in the “The Best  Dynamic WordPress Plugins” category. It was an incredible opportunity for the product to gain recognition among the most innovative products in the industry. And, the good news is – finally, Directorist became the winner in the above-mentioned category. As this article was posted on the 10th of January 2023, they declared the result on the 9th of January 2023. Directory won the Monster’s Award 2022 in the category of The Best  Dynamic WordPress Plugins.

Best Value Software Award 2022 Winner 

We are thrilled to announce that Directorist won the Best Value Software Award for 2022. Our mission to provide high-quality products at affordable prices has paid off in recognition from industry peers and customers alike. We understand the value of our customers’ hard work, so it was a priority for us to make sure our software met their expectations with features that exceeded both price points and functionality. We look forward to continuing our work toward creating a better experience for everyone who uses our software solutions.

How We Have Passed the Days with Directorist in 2022 

The days were amazing and there is no doubt. We passed those days with hard work, fun, and a lot more excitement. Below are examples of how we passed the days back in 2022.

Improvements on Directorist, our flagship product

2022 was a pretty run-of-the-mill year for Software industries, albeit with lots of solid success stories for Directorist. For example, we made many changes and upgrades in our flagship product, Directorist. From optimization to bringing extensions, all in between them, are in the frame below.

1. Directorist Optimization

We brought an improvement in Directorist loading speed and now users can reduce page loading time and super fast directory performance in temperaments like 

• Asset
• Icon
• Image
• Query

2. Directorist Instant search

This feature allows the users to search any listings without experiencing page loading scenarios. Thus, users can save time while searching their required listings. 

3. Rent booking system

This is a simple yet powerful feature for rental needs and it especially focuses on hotel directories. Hence, users can get benefits out of this feature. 

4. Booking WooCommerce payment

Earlier users could execute booking payments using the Direcorist checkout page but in 2022 we developed another feature where users can move with payment using the WooCommerce checkout page. If a user doesn’t want to use the Directorist checkout system, then he/she can easily move on to the WooCommerce checkout page. 

5. Booking dashboard payment

Booking dashboard payment allows users to pay at their optimal time. If they want to pay later, no problem, all things are listed on the dashboard for further action. 

6. GamiPress Integration

Directorist GamiPress Integration is an intuitive, user-friendly, and reliable solution that renders a solid integration between Directorist and GamiPress. 

7. Job Manager

Directorist-Job Manager is something that seamlessly fulfills someone’s every single wish to place job listings on his/her directory website.

8. Digital Marketplace

Digital Marketplace extension connects Directorist with WooCommerce. This extension is useful for a user who wants to create a digital marketplace and earn a commission on every listing sold.

9. Few more niched themes

In 2022, we launched 5 niche-based WordPress themes including a free option. Here is the list. 

• dJobs– designed to create job directory websites. 
• dHotels– Mapped out to make hotel directory websites
• dClassified– The best-classified ads WordPress theme for classified listing business
• dCar– Car directory WordPress theme 
• Best Listing– A free WordPress directory theme to build any directory website

10. Listing search based on zip code radius

This is an amazing feature with which visitors can search and find nearby business listings based on zip code. And, it was introduced in the middle of 2022. 

11. Improve Security

For any software, security is an issue. In the modern age, hackers are tremendously clever & dangerous and they can easily put software under bad malfunction. With that keeping in mind, our team of experts did everything needed to improve the level of security so that hackers can do nothing with Directorist. 

12. WPML integration 

This extension lets you make your directory website multilingual in the best way possible from one language to another. 

Nominated for Monster’s Award 2022 

The most exciting thing is that Directorist has been honored to be nominated for Monster’s Award 2022 in the “The Best  Dynamic WordPress Plugins” category. It was an incredible opportunity for the product to gain recognition among the most innovative products in the industry.

And, finally, Directorist became the winner. As this article posted on the 10th of January, they declared the result on the 9th of January, and most importantly, Directory won the game eventually.

Other Things We Did Back in 2022 

Apart from the things we mentioned above, here are the other activities that made our 2022 more memorable. 

Team Leads Tour 

It’s no doubt that leads are the pillars of Team Directorist. They have to shoulder lots of stress on the way to their journey. Maintaining & controlling team members, making a solid plan, etc are the things they have to do to bring Directorist to a whole next level. Hence, their happiness and satisfaction matter a lot. 

With that keeping in mind, SovWare arranged a special tour to an eco-resort called Jalalpur Eco Resort in the rural area of Kishoreganj District. Enjoying natural beauty, walking down the muddy streets, drinking pure date juice, spending the night gossiping, and many more amazing things took place on the tour. 

Revamping the whole team to make the workplace better than ever 

SovWare strongly believes that cooperation, well-mannered, gentle behavior, and hard work go hand in hand. That’s why it had to take a step to revamp the team with members who are not only skilled and professional but also well-mannered & sincere at their jobs. And, the same reason is why the inclusions and exclusions to/from the team happened back in 2022. 

Arranging an intra-cricket tournament under the banner of SPL( SovWare Premier League)

In the first quarter of 2022, We arranged an intra-cricket tour called SPL and there were 3 teams consisting of 9 players each team, A team named SovWare Raptors led by the CEO, 2nd team called SovWare Lions led by the COO, and the 3rd team named SovWare Strikers led by the CTO. 
We played a round-robin tournament in our home ground (Near Pangaon Port, Dhaka). The tournament was simple yet tremendously exciting. All three teams were brimmed with battle-scarred players. However, the universal rule of nature is that only one will be the winner. So, with the fact, the winner was SovWare Strikers while SovWare Lions became the runner-up. Overall, the final was a neck-and-neck battle between two finalists.

We sponsored a local cricket tournament

SovWare was the proud sponsor of a local cricket tournament consisting of 30+ teams. Though the tournament was local, it was fully professional and exciting. We were happy to sponsor this type of tournament. In the future, we have plans to hand out this type of tournament more and more. 

Table tennis tournament

We not only played outdoor games but also went with indoor games last year. We arranged a table tennis tournament and almost all the members of Directorist (All weren’t seasoned though)  participated in the tournament. 

Honestly speaking, our table tennis tournament was a huge success! Everyone had a great time playing and socializing. We made sure to secure enough venues so that the tournament could go on without any problems with space constraints. In addition, we ensured that equipment was available for all players, including paddles and balls. All in all, it was an amazing event, and we enjoyed having everyone together to enjoy this classic competitive game. And, a member from Plugin Team came out to be the winner and the runner-up was from Frontend Team.

Annual Tour

For many of us, a yearly tour is a perfect way to break away from the monotony of everyday life and experience something new. The annual tour to Cox’s Bazar which was packed full of adventure and excitement for everyone from the Team Directorist involved kicked off our boredom from day-to-day working hours. Whether it’s a weekend getaway in the countryside, a full-fledged vacation on an exotic beach, or just hours spent exploring the hustle and bustle of city streets was nothing less than fabulous. The activity plan for this event included stops at the Resort, sightseeing excursions, cultural activities, Kayaking, enjoying the WC final on the big screen, and plenty of time for relaxation out there near the sea beach.

What We Couldn’t Achieve in 2022

In our organization, setting ambitious goals and achieving many of them has been part of our mindset and commitment to excellence. However, due to some internal issues and the worldwide recession, some of our 2022 targets could not be met, despite all the efforts we have made. We forwent marketing, recruitment, and office expansion plans entirely, which, in turn, hindered our growth ambitions for 2022. 

With a narrower focus on core products and services in this continued period of uncertainty, we did not manage to achieve market penetration as we had planned fully. Going forward though, we remain committed to bringing about positive changes for our organization that help us reach our long-term goals. Here are the things we didn’t achieve, we had tried hard though. 

Optimization issue on Directorist

Our primary target was to optimize Directorist and all its extensions. We achieved 70% of it for Directorist and 30% for the extensions. There is still plenty of room for improvement which we target to achieve within the first quarter of 2023. 

Unable to release all themes as planned

We successfully released 5 out of 7 themes in 2022. The remaining two will be released in January 2023. However, we were supposed to release all themes we targeted in the year but we couldn’t due to some unavoidable issues. 

Incomplete extensions

Due to the overwhelming demand for features that were not on our roadmaps, we were unable to complete developing the Schema Markup and Advanced Review systems. We adopt a customer-centric development approach, prioritizing tasks in accordance with user requirements.

Unable to launch Mobile app

In the days of 2022, we wanted to launch a mobile app which we couldn’t do due to some unavoidable issues. But, in the future, we will work on it. 

Looking Forward to 2023 with The Things Bigger 

The year 2023 will be the year that will fill our bucket with the things we left unfinished back in 2022. With the best effort, we will do the things right below. 

New WordPress product releases

In 2023, we will pay deep concentration on updating the designs of all listings layouts, single listing layouts, and search listings and these things are one of the noteworthy goals of 2023. 

Design improvements on our all products

We have already begun working to enhance the overall user experience. We want to give users the best directory experience possible while minimizing the steps required to complete a task. 

Focusing on integration

We will be focusing more on integrations, especially the page builders. Also, we will excavate more options so that we can provide our users with a smoother user experience. 

Hire more support heroes

To improve the support system, we will be adding more customer service representatives( both day & night shifts) and developing a customer portal for managing tickets to ensure a better support system. 

Themes optimization

2023 will end the struggle of directory theme complexities as we are going to work on optimizing the themes to a whole different level with better and improved temperaments. 

ExMore extensions releases

In 2023, we will mainly focus on optimizing and making Directorist more user-friendly. Hence, we will pitch out a few extensions in 2023 to make the whole thing easier for our users. 

Bolster collaboration with other companies

We are looking forward to raising our collaboration opportunities with top companies so you get more value by purchasing Directorist products. It’s not just the product you will get but external values as well! 

Increase the volume of team members

Being nostalgic about the days we started our journey with a big aspiration back in 2017, we got scared with the days of uncertainty, challenges, and many things but couldn’t stop the trip. And, we can realize we have been getting bigger and bigger. We are growing with success, breaking challenges and all oddities. 

Hence, we need a solid team with an energetic, well-mannered, and seasoned workforce. And, the same reason is why we plan to increase the volume of our team members in the days to come. 

Concluding Thoughts

The year 2022 was a defining year for Directorist as the company continued to set the standard for directory and listings management in the industry. With a focus on innovation and customer satisfaction, Directorist delivered an array of new features and enhancements that exceeded expectations and drove growth.

From the introduction of staggering features to the expansion of integrations with popular platforms, Directorist continued to raise the bar for directory software. The company’s commitment to excellence was reflected in its continued success, solidifying its position as an important part of the industry. As we move forward into 2023, we can expect Directorist to continue delivering innovative solutions and exceptional customer experiences, solidifying its place as the go-to solution for directory and listings management.