PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS
PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS has significantly enhanced the platform with streamlined features and improved usability. This upgrade aims to better serve customer needs and support future growth.
Background
Client Overview
PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS is a technology platform that helps auto glass shops around the world manage their customers, work orders, inventory, and billing. The software streamlines the process of finding the exact glass product for a customer’s vehicle at the lowest cost. It also improves the efficiency of small glass shops by providing tools to easily integrate with existing systems and eliminating manual processes.
Industry Trends and Market Conditions
The auto glass industry is transforming through digital integration, enhanced customer experience, and mobile accessibility, with businesses adopting CRM systems to streamline operations and provide seamless service. The rise of e-commerce and technological advancements, such as smart glass technology, necessitate continuous innovation and robust online platforms. In a competitive market with fluctuating economic conditions, companies must stay updated with the latest tools to maintain an edge and attract customers.
Challenge
PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS and Anala
AutoGlassCRM, recently acquired by PGW Auto Glass, and rebranded to PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS faced a significant challenge: rapidly building out features in their flagship web portal ahead of a major product launch. With only one full-time and two part-time developers, the existing team was insufficient to complete the extensive development work required within the short timeline. The urgency of the situation was underscored by the need to deliver a compelling service to existing customers and onboard as many new ones as possible after the launch. PGW had identified a list of core features that needed to be added to the AutoGlassCRM software swiftly to meet these goals.
To address this, we had a tight four-month window to add several new features, which necessitated onboarding six new developers, a new product owner, and a new QA engineer. The challenge was compounded by the fact that the code base was fully custom with minimal use of existing frameworks, requiring the new team to quickly familiarize themselves with it. This significant increase in workload and the need for rapid ramp-up made it crucial to effectively manage the development process within the given constraints.
Solution
PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS lacked the technical skillset and team necessary to build the required features for their upcoming product launch. Already providing a part-time developer, Anala was approached by them to develop a project plan to meet the four-month deadline.
Custom Website Development
Anala provided the initial development team to implement all features required for the product's launch, including a software architect, developers, QA engineer, and business analyst. Afterwards, the team continued to provide development support and assisted PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS with hiring an internal team of developers. The teams continue working together to launch frequent feature updates.
Mobile App Development
PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS transitioned development of the mobile app to Anala. The app provides access to most of the website features and makes it easy to manage jobs on the go.
WordPress Development
A custom WordPress plugin was created to provide PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS clients with a solution for their customers to purchase the appropriate glass for their vehicle and schedule an appointment through the client's WordPress website.
E-commerce Development
A plugin for other websites (not WordPress) was also developed that enables scheduling an appointment and integrates with the client's credit card processor.
Collaboration
Anala collaborated closely with PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS to create a comprehensive plan and timeline, which included onboarding several new developers within two weeks and implementing a new software development process centered around feature ownership. This process involved Anala leading a hybrid team of Anala and PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS developers managing the development backlog, conducting code reviews, and handling deployments. Midway through the project, a new product owner and QA engineer were also integrated into the team to ensure successful delivery.
The Impact
With Anala’s development leadership, PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS successfully launched the site on time and with all the expected features, including automatic routing for installation jobs and EDI integration with insurance providers. They also launched several additional features to improve the user experience. In the first month after launch, PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS created hundreds of new customer accounts.
In the first month after launch, PGW EVERYTHING AUTOGLASS created hundreds of new customer accounts.