Magnetize CASE STUDY: Exciting New User Experience for Business Management Software

Over a decade Magnetize had built feature-rich business management software, a desktop and mobile app, using offshore software developers in India. Users found the desktop app overwhelming, overly complicated and cumbersome, and the mobile app unusable.

Magnetize engaged technology partner The Instillery who recommended a user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) review. Magnetize asked who the best in New Zealand was to partner with. Instillery suggested Company-X as a strategic technology partner.

UX and UI designer Briana Christey reviewed the existing software and interviewed users concerning their experience.

Company-X software architect and senior developer Luke McGregor examined the existing software and recommended a replacement approach as a cost-effective way of resolving the usability issues and modernising the technology.

As a result, Company-X led a full product development process resulting in the design and build of an entirely new, easy to use, version of Magnetize from the ground up.

Magnetize enables any business that schedules people, equipment and jobs to operate on any device from anywhere. Magnetize clients transform their business as they ditch the paperwork digitise all their health and safety and other paper-based processes, whiteboards, and spreadsheets in favour of a simple to use, cloud-based start-to-end job management system that fully integrates with accounting software Xero.

The Christchurch earthquakes kicked Magnetize into gear when sister company Pro-Drill Specialist Drilling Engineers became involved in what would end up being the biggest geotechnical investigation in the world. The investigation involved 375,000m of Geotech coring and 4,600 pieces of paperwork.

There was nothing on the market that consolidated all of Pro-Drill’s software needs so they built their own solution.

Pro-Drill created software that allowed it to manage all its business, in real-time, on the go. The volume of work and constant rescheduling could not have been completed without the software with dozens of jobs per day and more than $56 million worth of invoices successfully billed.

The Magnetize app underwent years of invaluable refinement.

Magnetize identified the problems associated with managing people, equipment, and jobs. Magnetize took those problems to offshore software developers in India and asked them to solve them with software. Time zone differences, communication and language issues, and cultural and social differences were all challenges for Magnetize in the process. The result was feature-packed software that worked well but did not meet the owners' design aspirations.

Magnetize turned to technology partner The Instillery for help. The Instillery recommended Magnetize commission reviews with UX and UI designer and contractor Briana Christey and Company-X software architect Luke McGregor.

The UX and UI review found the feature-rich application rated low in usability and aesthetics, and the user experience negatively affected user satisfaction and adoption.

The architectural review found UX issues on every page of the application and recommended a redesign and rebuild.

Working closely with Briana Christey, Company-X led product development of Magnetize’s new web and mobile apps, taking the new version from concept to market-ready solution in six months.

The Company-X team took an iterative approach to the project as it collaborated with Magnetize, existing and prospective Magnetize customers, and industry subject matter experts.

Company-X visited Magnetize’s Pukekohe headquarters, and met with existing customers, potential customers and subject matter experts in their own environments. Company-X really wanted to understand the problem the software would solve, and the language users were familiar with.

The Magnetize web and mobile app were reimagined, from the ground up, as a new Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to streamline systems for heavy equipment and machinery operators.

Company-X and Briana Christey designed and developed a job manager’s website and a complimentary mobile app to solve the specific pain points users raised by Magnetize users.

The integrated software solution handles job details and scheduling as well as quoting and invoicing via accounting software Xero. It allows for the creation and editing of associated files, such as Microsoft Word documents and PDF files.

The Magnetize web and mobile app are being successfully used by clients for scheduling and rescheduling people, equipment, and jobs across the civil and construction, transport, trades and services, manufacturing, and professional services industries.

“We were talking constantly with The Instillery general manager Richie Jenkins about our frustrations, and he said, ‘If you're going to do this, you've got to get Company-X onboard.’ I asked, ‘Who's the best in the industry?’ and he said, ‘Company-X.’ So here we are.”

Magnetize chief executive Paul Lyons