About the company
Rentr is an online platform for renting out enterprise IT equipment to corporations in bulk quantities.
Project in a nutshell
Opportunity
Rentr’s business functioned 100% offline but had to be digitized to stay relevant during the pandemic. Internal communication and client support handling had become chaotic due to the inability to interact on-site.
Context
We worked on creating an internal management software for accounts, sales, support and super admin teams to enable smoother internal workflows. Additionally, we designed a customer-facing application where clients and distributors could place new orders, request for support and manage their invoices & inventory.
Outcome
We helped these cross-functional teams organize, track, and manage their work. In the process, creating a culture of performance and accountability with clear and visible data. Remarkably increased the team workflow efficiency by 200%.
My Role
Lead UX designer - discovery, user research, information architecture, design, animation & testing
For this project, other than being involved during all the phases of the design process, I was also responsible for capturing the business requirements, keeping all the stakeholders aligned, and leading the client meetings.
Team
1 Ui designer (design system), 2 founders, a marketing executive & 3 developers
Timeline
5 months | Jul 2023 - Nov 2023
Services
Service design, SaaS User Experience Design & User Interface Design
Client
The Problem
How might we streamline processes and people on one platform?
Break down silos and connect teams around customer journeys
Poor team collaboration had become a barrier to the organization’s success. Without a system, it was impossible to assign, prioritise, manage, or complete tasks on time.
Rentr planned to expand its team 5x in the next quarter. We needed to implement a system to accommodate expansion.
Fig: Manual data entry to track customer orders, team tasks was ruining team productivity
Research
Understanding the problem space
I set about mapping the current management flow with the team from accounts, sales, and support teams in a 5 day research workshop. My research encompassed -
Business Research:
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Understanding the Rentr management hierarchy and its vastness
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Roles and responsibilities of members at each level
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How is the success of the task measured ie defining KPIs for the team
User Research:
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Identify touchpoints within the offline system that will be taken online
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Understanding the customer's journey to identify points of assistance: From discovery, conversion, ordering, onboarding, usage, customer support, renewal
Competitor Research:
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The clients found existing CRM solutions limiting and nonscalable. Building from scratch provided more control and flexibility in integrating with legacy systems, third-party APIs, and future technologies as their business evolves. We looked at Zoho, and Freshworks to identify gaps in offering that are critical for Rentr's business.
Brainstorming Solutions Collectively
To get the ball rolling, we wanted to invest some time in collaborative brainstorming. As a distributed team, we performed activities like whiteboarding, service, and affinity mapping to gain cross-functional alignment.
Qualitative Interviews
We carried out 20+ remote interviews to gain perspective. I gathered as much as I could from the end users to understand the challenges they face and how they see the platform making a difference in optimizing pain areas. I’ve summarised the key challenges users faced below -
“With all our communication over whatsapp or phone calls , its a tedious task to serve our customers quickly. We desperately need a system to handle our customers orders, requests and invoices.
- CEO
“There are multiple tasks that I need to assign to my subordinates. Currently it becomes quite difficult to track accountability. I am often doubtful about the task status.
- Admin
“I spend 4-5 hours per day filling task form. This leaves little time for me to help customers with their queries and it can get quite overwhelming”
- Staff
"I was constantly in the dark about my subscription's renewal date, and it ended up costing me more than I expected. The lack of communication was frustrating making the overall experience quite unsatisfactory.
- Customer
User Profiles
The research made it evident how different users would use the platform differently. To cater to this, I categorized them into 3 user profiles based on their goals and tasks.
1. Super Admin
Task performed
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Connect and coordinate work with the entire value chain
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Analyse data and company financials and make important decisions regarding (inventory and payments)
2. Admin
Task performed
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Coordinate work, assign & tracks result
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Reviews staff performance
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Adds new members
3. Staff
Task performed
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Complete assigned tasks on time
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Raises tickets - to loop in another department/staff member to address query
Insights
After conducting interviews, contextual inquiry and analyzing the gathered data, I was able to categorize the insights into these 3 categories
Communication
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Large organization with over 6 teams and 80 members servicing clients all over India.
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No centralized platform to communicate with teams and customers
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Team struggles to focus because of information overload and near-constant switching between tasks.
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WhatsApp and email are used as a primary tool for customer communication.
Work Management
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Status of tasks not in the appropriate format - either verbal or images
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No transparency over inventory, delivery status, purchase orders, and support requests.
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Tasks are difficult to assign to an individual or team
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No way to track the progress of a task
Customer Retention
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Clients buy bulk for employees working from home
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Late support responses and delays in asset delivery and collection cause friction in the customer journey
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Customers want quick communication, quick support, and transparency in delivery
The Goal
A site that would be a single source of truth for the organization and an integral part of every division's workflow. It should -
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Speedup internal process & close the communication loop
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Increase collaboration and productivity
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Reduce onboarding time
Design
Conceptualization
I started creating the information architecture and low-fi concepts for primary use cases. Ideation aimed around making critical information clear, giving a comprehensive overview of tasks and progress tracking, allowing users to stay informed and feel more in control of their work.
Consistent design for both Admin and Staff = Easier for engineer to build
Ideation
Dashboard Mockups
Quick testing
Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast
As a distributed team, we prioritized feedback so that we could maintain momentum. We involved the product manager, developers, and stakeholders on the mockups as we began to conduct usability tests with the low-fidelity mockups. Once we had confidence in the design, we began digitalizing designs.
Key areas of enhancement:
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Improve layout based on usage
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Adaptive workflows tailored to address different user type
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Reduce cognitive load
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Modular design required
Dashboard iteration - I spent a lot of time looking for the most efficient way to display critical information on the dashboard, the first page users see after logging in.
70% Reduced customer ticket creation time
Before
After
Ticket Creation iteration - Redesigned ticket creation from pop-over to full page, reducing distractions and accidental clicks.
42% Decrease in training cost over a year
Before
After
User Onboarding iteration- needed to be more directional & informative. 8/10 users found it easy to understand how tasks are created, reviewed, and approved.
The solution
Streamlined task workflows
Users access real-time data and sort tickets that are relevant to their role. We designed workflows that minimize time spent creating and closing tickets while maximizing ease-of-use. Power users found the design to be keyboard friendly and intuitive.
Prototype shows how users creates a ticket from the dashbaord
Teams track their work through tickets
Top-level personalized cards to categorize crucial information as per the team’s workflow.
Onboard customers faster
To reduce the screening time for high profile customers , we enabled adding clients directly from the backend . Using progressive disclosure to make form input a breeze
Check assets availability from one place
Designing for asset management has cut down on unnecessary follow-ups within the team. Providing real-time, critical information to platform users, and allowing them to take action easily.
Optimized Analytics
For the super admin ie CEO, the analytics helps in cash-flow management and to predict revenue month-over-month. Designed to be visually pleasing and easy to understand complex data at a glance.
Customer Facing App
I supported the team by designing the B2C ordering portal completing Rentr’s digital ecosystem. We aimed to bring transparency in communication by providing real time tracking ,accountability and support for its users.
Development
Design QA & Handoff
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3 rounds of design QA testing were conducted to ensure quality handoff and implementation
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Mobile and desktop versions of each screen were handed off with all components linked to the style guide
Impact
Let's talk numbers
After the beta testing, we launched the backend in March and are excited to pull in data showing that the platform has improved workflow efficiency by 200%. While the customer portal is still in development, we don't have the precise data just yet, but what's encouraging is the positive feedback from users who tested the prototype.
Project Learnings
I learned that while internal tools may appear modest in scale, they wield a significant impact on employee experience, ultimately influencing the company's growth trajectory.
Collaboration is key
The more eyes on a design, the more it’s exposed to varying experience and critique and this can ultimately improve it. Seeking feedback early and continually saved me ample of time and rework.
Hard skills are important, but so are soft skills
Trying to understand the stakeholders workflows and capture requirements from them and getting alignment was something I had never done before, I quickly learned how to effectively convey the rationale behind my designs decisions and get all teams on board while defining a strategic plan to launch the MVP.
Great design is saying “no”
Through this project I learned how to develop my own opinions about what the priorities of the project should be, then checked with leadership. Creating a product roadmap and an anti-roadmap and making it available to the wider team helped align everyone involved and avoid digress/rework later on. This helped me learn how to influence leadership and deliver within tight deadlines, which is a valuable skill I look to bring in my next role.
Future Scope
If I had more time, I would ...
Explore more in-depth Ui trade offs
Due to time constraint , I was not able to fully investigate all the possible trade offs for my users. I would have A/B tested design elements to refine user experience based on user preference.
Post launch monitoring
Due to the pace of projects at my agency , we weren’t involved in the post launch monitoring. I’d have loved to delve into the user data analytics to gain a more profound understanding of user behavior and preferences.
Link to my Figma File here
“...collaborative prowess and meticulous attention to detail. her ability to align diverse, multidisciplinary teams behind a vision is remarkable”
Kunal Sancheti, Co-Founder of Rentr
