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Global Auto Refinish Coatings Manufacturer​

Unifying software and hardware across 70,000 body shops and distributors​

The Refinish business unit of a global coatings manufacturer provides essential software and hardware used by auto body shops and paint distributors for color matching, job costing and inventory tracking. These digital tools are an essential enabler for the core coatings products and services that the company sells. But, the digital tools had three similar but different regional versions and were supported by a single IT team. The customer experiences had not kept pace with the needs and expectations of customers and business users. The mobile and desktop apps were not leveraging modern paradigms and the software was too technically brittle to incorporate new capabilities. Furthermore, data was not readily available or structured for analysis by different stakeholders. ​

An audit of the current state was completed to capture current software capabilities. A multidisciplinary team conducted research with the customer service team, IT, distributors and at body shops in each region to map common and region-specific workflows and needs. Workshops and design sprints with a core global team focused on major functional areas and were used to create a North Star vision and roadmap for design, phased implementation and rollout.​

The Refinish business unit of a global coatings manufacturer provides essential software and hardware used by auto body shops and paint distributors for color matching, job costing and inventory tracking. These digital tools are an essential enabler for the core coatings products and services that the company sells. But, the digital tools had three similar but different regional versions and were supported by a single IT team. The customer experiences had not kept pace with the needs and expectations of customers and business users. The mobile and desktop apps were not leveraging modern paradigms and the software was too technically brittle to incorporate new capabilities. Furthermore, data was not readily available or structured for analysis by different stakeholders. ​

An audit of the current state was completed to capture current software capabilities. A multidisciplinary team conducted research with the customer service team, IT, distributors and at body shops in each region to map common and region-specific workflows and needs. Workshops and design sprints with a core global team focused on major functional areas and were used to create a North Star vision and roadmap for design, phased implementation and rollout.​

Immersive Research

Observed and interviewed distributors, customers, market leads in North and South America, Europe, China and Australia to understand subtleties of each market firsthand

Global Working Team

Engaged customers and market leads from each region to provide local context, understand the unique needs and provide representation to enable ownership and increase likelihood of adoption

Design Sprints

A series of workshops, design and user testing addressed key capabilities in a logical sequence to de-risk build work, provide transparency for key stakeholders and focus the team

PRODUCT ROADMAPPING​

Product capabilities were sized and prioritized for rollout by considering market needs, underlying technical dependencies and budget considerations

Impact

Reduced Support Costs

Reduced operational burden and cost associated with the global IT support team​

Customer Workflow Efficiency

More efficient and effective workflow for finding the right color, mixing and inventory management

Modernized Technical Architecture

Single platform works with color formulas for different brands in each region​

Business Analytics Capability

Improved reporting of usage provided to all stakeholders

© 2024 Mark Lotter

© 2024 Mark Lotter

© 2024 Mark Lotter