Design Center, Inc.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The product hasn't launched yet, so the results are still in the future. This is a very collaborative effort, and they always come back with proposals and design ideas that will work well for our customers. We needed a lot of help with that, and they brought their know-how to the UX. They understood our business, and they took the time to help us meet our goals. They're very thorough.

How did Design Center, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed the project on their end, and they sent us updated timelines when one deadline changed. They budgeted in a lot of extra time at the end, so changes to the timeline don't affect our bottom line. They have backlog meetings to go over the details of each sprint, and they invite us to those meetings to answer their questions or give input. They have a clear grasp of our business, and I really appreciate their process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver design improvements quickly, and they're always willing to help us with any of our questions. They provide some support outside of the scope of the project, and we really appreciate all they do for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We're very pleased with their performance and their speed. At this point, I don't have any points they should improve.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

As an example, before we had this application, we launched a new digital product that our salespeople were not particularly familiar with. We sold about 100 units even though we carried it in 4,000 dealerships. We revamped our training, got more equipment, and we sold about 400 more.

All the while, we were building this application. Once we introduced the app and showed our staff the experience and allowed them to get more comfortable with the product, we sold about 1,500. We quickly learned that the application would foster increased familiarity with what we’re selling.

How did Design Center perform from a project management standpoint?

During periods with a lot of heavy design work, we’ll have weekly meetings. Otherwise, we’ll touch base monthly to go over statistics and see how much usage we get for the system. The Design Center team has also had remarkably little churn, so we’ve been able to work with the same team all these years.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are fairly unique. Anybody can build an app, but they focus on the transformation of how you communicate in the digital age. And their designs are stunning. They are a design-minded development team, and you can tell when looking at competitive offerings.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We incorporate some metrics into our discussions, but I think we could have a stronger emphasis on usage statistics. Design Center could do more to design solutions around usage as opposed to a graphical experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The most important thing is having a dedicated and influential liaison at their office. You'll have much better results if you have somebody on the inside who is committed to the success of your project.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The app functions well and we have a really solid template in place. If I send them an update, there’s not a lot of back and forth, which keeps things moving quickly.

Up until a few months ago, we weren’t able to do much when it comes to analytics. However, they recently told me that they have worked with Google Analytics to obtain our data, which is great.

How did Design Center, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s a pretty streamlined process. I submit my request, which might be four different ad hoc projects. They will break down the cost and are very transparent about how many hours they will take, as well as the scope of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand our business, which was a huge help. They’re great people to work with and that counts for a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that comes to mind except for the data aspect. They’re pretty straightforward.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We survey our franchisees every two years through a third party’s company. One of the things they measure is franchise engagement, which tells us a lot about the health of our business. Our engagement score went up by 15% over the last two years, which is an enormous jump for this industry. The result is directly related to the communication we provided through the app.

Usership has increased by 12% in 2017, and we’ve had close to a 100% increase in frontline engagement (i.e., people working behind the counter).

The best thing is that Design Center helped build the analytic functionalities that are allowing us to gauge this usage and how it compares to sales, franchisee engagement, etc. We’ve seen a marked improvement in how our system runs. I attribute a lot of this to the app.

How did Design Center perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t have a lot of visibility into the process because they handle this aspect internally. We do have deadlines and weekly calls. They have a lot of systems in place and haven’t miss any deadlines. They also have excellent communication. If we encounter a bug, they take care of it right away.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus on design sets them apart. This addresses what a product looks and feels like, as well as how people will use it. Design Center also works tightly with the technology part in order to make the software work well. They have a great team.

When we kicked off the project five years ago, one of the main designers and key people within their firm went out to one of our shops and talked with us for 3–4 hours about the business. He looked at our flow, talked to people behind the counter, and looked at the issue from a customer’s perspective. This preliminary work helped them get a headstart on understanding our needs and has been the basis for how we develop the app going forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve noticed that they’re growing, but it hasn’t impacted the work. I know that Design Center has gone through periods of being very busy, and I sometimes wonder if this affects other clients’ project management.