Company-X renews and rebuilds Magnetize applications on AWS

Hamilton-based Company-X rebuilt and streamlined the Magnetize tracking and planning app and moved it from the office to the cloud.

The six-month overhaul and rebuild project, assisted by a recommendation from The Instillery, has enabled Pukekohe-based Magnetize to launch new business management software that makes it easier for corporate clients to plan and track business cases. people and equipment “from quote to invoice”.

Magnetize is used by a wide variety of industries including civil engineering, construction, earthmoving, rental, rental and transportation companies for documentation, quotes and planning, and is integrated with Xero accounting software. for billing.

The company has spent seven years and millions of dollars with offshore software developers to build its business management software. However, while users loved the features, they found the desktop app to be complicated and cumbersome and the mobile app to be unusable.

Instillation recommended that Magnetize undertake a user experience and interface review first and suggested that User Experience Specialist Briana Christey do the job.

“The purpose of the UX review was to assess the desktop application, website, and existing marketing materials to identify opportunities to improve engagement, sales conversions, and product adoption.” , said Christey.

Magnetize wanted to create a world class product focused on customers and solutions for their problems.

“Overall, we found the Magnetize User Application to be feature rich, but weak in usability and aesthetics, affecting overall satisfaction and product adoption,” Christey said.

Examination completed, Magnetize returned to The Instillery for advice.

“We were constantly chatting with The Instillery’s Managing Director, Richie Jenkins, about our frustrations, our desire to bring development back to New Zealand and partner with the best,” said Paul Lyons, Managing Director of Magnetize.

Instillation had an informal benchmark agreement with Company-X based on the long-term friendship between Jenkins and Company-X co-founder David Hallett. Jenkins recommended Hallett’s company to perform the reconstruction.

Credit: Supplied

“We had development goals, but a good cultural fit was just as important to us,” Lyons said.

This adjustment had to be centered on honesty, integrity and relationships based on trust as well as accessibility.

Company-X Senior Software Architect Luke McGregor reviewed existing software and recommended a replacement approach as the best and most cost-effective way to address usability issues, security vulnerabilities, and modernize the system. technology.

“I found UX issues scattered throughout just about every aspect of the app, which meant we had to redesign every page,” McGregor said.

Replacement was the most cost effective way to fix problems and upgrade technology.

“At this point when you have as many edits as you want to make… it’s cheaper to start over,” McGregor said. “It’s kind of a sad reality.”

Company-X led the entire product development, design and build of an entirely new, easy-to-use version of Magnetize in the cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

In-depth interviews with the Magnetize team behind the original concept as well as with existing and potential users were conducted and feedback gathered at every stage of the project. The long, linear forms required to create a job and the multiple required fields for data entry were a real headache for administrators and slowed down the pace of work.

The core of the approach was to humanize the experience by taking a user-centric approach and thinking of real people going about their workday using this software, Christey said.

This was accomplished with user personas: “Lisa” the office administrator, “Steve” the operations manager, “Jase” the worker, and “Les” the owner who were kept in mind during the design and development of new software.

“Sometimes we didn’t always know what we were building. It is important to note that throughout the project we remained focused on Magnetize customers and their weak points and knew that if we used the best methods or the right methodology we would be on the right track, ”Christey said.

In the new Magnetize, users can now create a job in seconds with simplified fields, and information is now grouped into logical groups.

Tags DevelopmentAmazon Web ServicesAWSThe InstilleryCompany-XCloudMagnetize