Solifi (White Clarke Group): Point-of-sale

Context

WCG required a broad software expertise to help upgrade, enhance and maintain the retail point-of-sale (POS) applications for one of their UK-based automotive clients. These applications would be used on a day-to-day basis in dealerships in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to sell vehicles with finance.

They were also looking for a system to replace their fax-based supporting-documents pipeline. Supporting documents are a key part of the car-finance underwriting process, and missing, incorrect or low-quality documents were a significant factor in application processing times.

!Anchor cb-74Challenges

The initial challenge was to upgrade the legacy applications without downtime and make them multi-browser and iPad compatible. All applications would need to continue to integrate with the existing back-office systems, without degradation.

Solutions

I worked with the in-house technical and non-technical teams to update and enhance several applications so they were compatible with all the major browsers and iPad devices. I also developed a .NET REST API for an iOS (iPad and iPhone) app to help car dealerships quickly submit customer documents to finance underwriters for car finance applications.

I liaised with the in-house customer-experience department to help produce demonstrations and training materials for the updated applications. End-users would therefore feel comfortable using the updated systems.

Results

The company saw an immediate impact to application performance and user satisfaction. The legacy system had been slow and lacked the features commonly seen in modern web applications. The upgraded application was significantly faster and easier to use, and worked on iPads.

This unshackled salespeople from their desks, enabling them to use the application on the sales floor with their customers.

The impact of the iOS document application was even more dramatic.

The legacy system had required dealers to fax documentation to the finance underwriters. This could result in a lag time of several hours before finance application were reviewed. The new system merely required that the document be photographed with the iOS App. Underwriting frequently started within minutes of the application being submitted, frequently whilst the customer was still on the forecourt, leading to a surge in customer satisfaction and car sales.