Industry overview
What is shaping software
Software and SaaS companies live and die by product-market fit, pricing and retention. Users' real workflows matter more than feature lists.
- Product-led growth relies on fast time to value
- Pricing and packaging strongly affect conversion
- Churn often starts with onboarding
Client background
A regional logistics company, working in South Africa. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A regional logistics company
- Sector
- Software
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- Web application development, Mobile app development, Cloud & DevOps services
Client challenge
Dispatch relied on phone calls and spreadsheets, and customers had no visibility of deliveries. Customers were calling repeatedly to ask where their deliveries were, tying up dispatch staff. Dispatchers planned routes on whiteboards and phoned drivers for updates, so customers called constantly to ask where their deliveries were.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: building a dispatch platform for a logistics company.
- Design around the real needs of vehicles.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
The work focused on 400 vehicles.
- vehicles400
Audiences we typically reach in software
Trial and paying usersAdmins and buyersChurned customersProspectsPartners and integrators
Geographic coverage
Coverage: South Africa. Market: South Africa.
- South Africa
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Process mapping
- 3Dispatch web app
- 4Driver app
- 5Insight
We built a web dispatch platform and a driver app with proof of delivery and live tracking, hosted on a scalable cloud setup. We spent time with dispatchers and drivers to understand their routines, built the driver app to work offline on rural routes, and integrated the platform with the company’s billing system. The driver app worked offline in areas with poor coverage and synchronised when connectivity returned.
Web application developmentMobile app developmentCloud & DevOps services
Sampling strategy
- vehicles
- 400
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Dispatchers handled more deliveries per shift, and customers received tracking links automatically.
Designing with dispatchers made the platform fit daily work.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: designing with dispatchers made the platform fit daily work.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: dispatchers handled more deliveries per shift, and customers received tracking links automatically.
Business impact
- Customer calls about delivery status fell, and management could see delivery performance by route and driver for the first time.
Deliverables & next steps
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: why do customers churn?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.