B. Beautiful

Process

For each of the challenges listed above, the process was similar. First, understand what the goal of the project was. For example, when setting up the physical store, what needed to be done? What experience did she want her clients to have? For the online website and the eCommerce store, the same questions could be asked.

Once the problem was properly diagnosed, we could move on to planning the work that needed to be done. For the website planning process, view the MOD Developments case study for a better understanding of how I approach website design and development. In regards to the technological infrastructure problem, the steps were as follows:

1. List the tasks that needed to be done
2. Design a process flow (I usually use the software Lucidchart for this) to understand how each part in the system connects and communicates with other parts. For example, how do client appointment bookings connect with the payment processor? How does this connect with the email marketing platform for customer retention?
3. Research existing technology that can solve each or multiple steps in the process flow. In most cases, there is a SaaS product for everything. For the client booking management, we landed on Timely.
4. Set up infrastructure.
5. Train the business owner on the process, managing the software, and hand over training documents they can refer to in the future.

Result

The client had a successful launch of their brick-and-motor location with no hiccups. The infrastructure put in place was both easy for her to understand and, more importantly, simple to train her non-tech savvy employees to use. WIth this was a fully functioning eComemrce site to allow for supplementary revenue.