As digital interactions and consumer expectations continue to shape the marketplace, businesses increasingly recognize that investing in thoughtful customer experience design is not just a trend but a crucial foundation for business success.

Part one of this case study takes us through the first part of the software development journey where we research, explore, design and plan our software solution to offer true value to our stakeholders and end customers.

Our client is a leading auto service business with centers across several states. They are one of the few auto repair facilities approved by the AAA, American Automotive Association. All their centers are equipped with state of the art auto repair and maintenance technology, and staffed with experienced repair technicians who are certified by the ASE, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, a professional certification group in the US and Canada.

Our customer faced a predicament which has been pervasive in the industry — customer loyalty. But, over the last five years our customer had noticed a clear decline in their customer base, and refused to accept this as a prevalent industry trend. They began actively looking for ways to solve their customer relation problems and needed a technology partner who could help them end the crisis for good. Additionally the client aimed to improve business processes through technology.

The client approached us to build software which would put an end to their customer woes, and increase business efficiency, growth and profitability.

Agile Soft Systems is a modern application development company with a focus on building customer centric solutions. We have earned a reputation to transform businesses through cloud technologies by building custom software solutions. We are known for our technological prowess in implementing right fit technologies to solve business problems. But, besides our technological expertise, it's our design processes and agile practices that help us devise solutions that are accurate from the get go.

We believe, that investigating business problems, and the process of innovating solutions through workshops are as equally important as developing and engineering software with cutting edge tech.

Investigating the business problem | 360° Design Thinking Workshop

Agile Soft Systems believes in taking a collaborative approach to software development. We believe that a communication framework is key to indentify, and solve problems. We encourage all our customers to conduct a 360° workshop with us to diagnose problems and explore ways to solve them together. We recommended our new client to do the same.

Our expert team — comprising our project manager, solutions architect, senior designers and developers — closely collaborated with the clients team — the shop managers, service managers and experienced technicians — on a two day extensive 360° Design Thinking Workshop to identify key issues related to the main business problems. At the end of the Design Workshop we discovered and documented problem areas that needed our attention.

Business problems | Traditional repair shop with minimal IT intervention

The client had a CRM and an inventory management system installed at all the centers. However these systems, due to their nature, had limited capabilities and weren't built to help the technicians and managers with their daily routine tasks efficiently. Additionally these systems were isolated and data couldn't be shared between workshops.

Outlined below are some of the problems identified during the 360° Design Thinking workshop.

Manual Processes:

The management relied on manual processes for appointment scheduling, invoicing, and record-keeping which was time consuming and also prone to errors. This led to inefficiencies and potential mistakes in service delivery.

Limited Customer Communication:

Customers today prefer online appointment scheduling and want to be updated regarding the ongoing repairs of their vehicles. Lack of digital communication channels resulted in poor customer engagement and satisfaction.

Inefficient Inventory Management:

As the Inventory Management Systems were installed separately at each premises, it was difficult to keep track of inventory at the organization level. While some shops experienced stock-out for certain spare parts, others were overstocked with the same item. The store managers had to manually call other centers to check for availability of the items.

Limited Diagnostic Logging Capabilities:

Modern vehicles require advanced diagnostic tools to accurately diagnose, report and repair complex issues. Further, access to historical data can give insights to technicians and engineers helping them in their decisions related to repair and maintenance. Lack of data storage capabilities in this regard led to poor decision making and persistent problems with the vehicles, resulting in poor customer satisfaction.

Limited Employee Productivity:

Digital work order systems enhance employee productivity, and lack of this led to slower workflows and communication breakdowns, affecting overall employee efficiency and morale.

Digging deeper into customer problems| UX Discovery phase

Our 360° workshop participants had been successful in identifying some problems related to customer relation, while most of the problems discussed by stakeholders revolved around the problems the managers and technicians faced performing their daily duties.

Our UX team wanted to dig deeper and understand customer problems first hand. So we decided to reach out to the customers to learn more about their problems. Our UX team got the approval from our client and our project head to conduct a weeklong UX Discovery session at two of their centers. Our team interviewed and surveyed customers through a well planned and designed Discovery process, which helped us identify problems which were hidden in plain sight earlier.

Lack of Communication:

Customers wanted to be informed about the progress of repairs, any unexpected issues, and the estimated completion time. Poor communication between the repair shops and the customer led to dissatisfaction.

Incomplete or Inaccurate Estimates:

The inspection and estimation process, and inventory management was not coordinated which resulted in inaccurate estimates and significant differences in the final cost. Our team noted that transparent and accurate estimates are crucial to build customer trust.

Quality of repairs and unresolved issues:

Past negative experiences made some customers skeptical about the quality of repairs conducted by the technicians and mechanics. They complained how the unresolved issues with their vehicles led to frustration and dissatisfaction.

Overbooking, Delays, and Inadequate Follow-Up:

Lack of communication between the management, technicians and customers led to long wait times and delays in completing repairs. Overbooking appointments or failing to manage repair timelines impacted customer satisfaction negatively. We also learnt that failure to follow up with customers after repairs left them feeling undervalued.

Lack of Personalization:

Interviews conducted by our Discovery team revealed that customers appreciate a personalized experience. If the repair shop doesn't take the time to understand the customer's needs or provide tailored recommendations, it may result in a less satisfactory experience.

Unfriendly Staff:

The existing processes were not transparent and the service managers couldn't find the required information through a single pane of glass. They found the process of coordinating with the customer cumbersome which led to misunderstanding and customers wrongly judging the staff as being unfriendly.

Our UX team identified the underlying theme of customer distrust that was a direct result of legacy business processes and software. Our team was sure, that establishing a customer-centric approach to design a solution would contribute to positive customer experiences and stop customer churn.

Solution through Design Thinking Workshop and UX Discovery

Through the eye opening 360° Design Thinking Workshop, and UX Discovery process our team devised possible solutions extensively.

The Agile Soft Systems team got a thorough grasp of the issues related to customer experience and service operations. Our architect and UX designers planned for features that could greatly enhance customer satisfaction. We redesigned and optimized workflows for efficiency and transparency. We created personas, and built and validated user stories, and crafted user flows to enhance the quality of repair and maintenance service, as well as bridge communication gaps between service managers and end customers.

Conclusion

At Agile Soft Systems, we believe that building software is a collaborative effort, and knowing customer pain points and motivation is key to building great solutions. Designing solutions with complete insight and clarity, is as important as developing solutions using right technologies. We believe that engineering great solutions is only possible when you place customers at the center of your transformation endeavor.

Our well documented learning was shared with the client, who was surprised at the discoveries we made. Our client was also confident that our solutions would truly transform their business and drive value at each touchpoint.

Now that we had the business solutions design under our belt, it was time to put our technology expertise to use.

In the next part of our case study we'll explore the technologies and software solutions Agile Soft Systems employed to help our client succeed in their business. We'll share how we leveraged cloud technology and agile methodology to craft a custom solution to deliver value at pace to our client.

If you've struggling to find solutions to your business problems, reach out to us and conduct a 360° workshop, and gain insights that'll make your digital transformation worthwhile.