Our client was the leading food delivery company in Hungary. Following their recent acquisition by the global leading firm, combined with the challenges of the pandemic and increasing competition, they were suddenly facing new challenges: how to keep up with the rapid expansion keeping in mind customer-centricity?

​

The process

Ih an intensive cooperation, we mainly combined structured Customer Research and Design Sprint methodologies. We learned side-by-side with internal teams what are the deep needs and experiences of their vendor partners, mapped out the existing product portfolio and looked for opportunities to be developed within a short time-frame.

 

Merging qualitative and quantitative approaches along the research helped us clearly understand the expectations and various attributes of the company’s extensive vendor base, and the challenges they face due to the pandemic each and every day.

​

Building on the insights of the quantitative dataset, the team chose a specific group of vendors to focus on. By conducting 30+ customer interviews across the country, and shadowing existing service deliveries we immersed deeply in the everyday lives of the restaurants and uncovered two main development opportunities that fitted the mission of helping vendor partners grow.

​

    (1) Most small restaurants we interviewed highlighted that due to in-dining closure, their            traditional customer base disappeared and finding returning customers is an everyday                struggle for them.

 

    (2) Further, optimizing capacity utilization during uncertain restrictions is also a burning              issue.

​

We started the Design Sprint week with the hypothesis that in these unprecedented, volatile times, building trust by providing quick, easy-to-use and easy-to-understand solutions are the key enablers to any problem-set.

 

Shifting gears allowed for the Design Thinking process to tackle a true need, encouraged the team to bravely change directions during the process while not endangering the outcome, and deliver three solutions that meet the viability, feasibility as well as the desirability criteria. During the Sprint, these solutions were turned into prototypes within one day, tested on real customers right after, iterated and improved upon, and finally set up to become working improvements on the platform within a couple of week’s notice.

​

 

The impact

By taking part in this fully guided process with edUcate, the Client was able to stay true to its core values and improve the experiences of customers who truly had a need for it, while also meeting deadlines and business expectations.

 

This is a great example of how non-tech solutions can also be great - if not the best -  in boosting customer experience and implementing changes rapidly in a corporate environment.

​

We learned that strengthening the company’s understanding of the core needs of its partners and building meaningful solutions based on these can result in not only valuable service level improvements for clients, but also direct revenue boosting solutions.

​

Outcomes are not only realized in concrete implemented solutions, but also as an added benefit, in company-wide increase of human-centricity. As we heavily involved the cross-functional team in the creation process and got them out of the building, they gained a deep understanding of the vendors. This helped them create need-based solutions, as well as take full responsibility for their work, engage in team conversations and break down functional silos within the company. It all contributed to the mindset shift and boosted the cultural transformation that the company was longing for. The key now is to carry this mindset further so that it can become the core of the company’s culture. The time spent on and effort put into the Design Sprint does in no way mean the work is done; it is merely the beginning and a good direction to keep growing in.

​

We, at edUcate, believe that for achieving real impact, we must support our partners along the journey from step zero, and all the way until the solution is implemented. Our engagement started with the aim of building innovation capability and culture within the company through trainings, organizational design and innovative product development projects such as the above. We continue to mentor the teams as these ideas become reality through continuous iterations with customers.

​