Ikonix
Modernizing a complex workflow
We designed and developed an application that equips Ikonix technicians to be productive and confident
The Challenge
Ikonix manufactures electrical safety compliance instruments and power sources that ensure everyday consumer products, things like toasters, laptops, hairdryers, and washing machines, meet stringent safety requirements. Providing equipment to over 3,000 organizations a year, Ikonix’s technicians use software to verify instrument calibration and ensure that their output is consistent and reliable. The legacy software needed a modern overhaul, with a revamped interface and improved performance. Fresh accepted the challenge to recreate the application from the ground up.
Our Solution
Fresh strategists spent a week visiting Ikonix headquarters to observe and learn from their team. We conducted numerous stakeholder interviews to plan the application’s technical architecture. From the initial designs to a working prototype, from API development to database architecture, we handled everything. The end result was an application that equips Ikonix technicians to be more productive and confident in ensuring safety for consumers and profitability for partner organizations.
Services & Capabilities
Stepping into the shoes of Ikonix technicians
During our week-long visit to Ikonix, we observed technicians’ routines, processes, and tools. Throughout our on-site discovery phase, we uncovered core challenges that influenced our recommendations and end-deliverables. The system was slow and inefficient, data pipelines weren’t automated, and the UI was confusing. Instead of completing their tasks with confidence, technicians were bottlenecked.
Knowing more about the system and how technicians used it, we created visualizations of complex process flows. Mapping out each element of the technician’s duties and understanding how the tasks related to one another allowed us to reimagine the system, making it more intuitive, less manual, and easier to maintain.
Simplifying complex business logic
Once we dove under the hood, we saw firsthand how complicated the legacy Ikonix system was. There was minimal documentation. The data layering within the backend of the application was convoluted. A large part of our technical consultation involved helping the client simplify things, ensuring that technical roadblocks were avoided in future development efforts.
We spent time understanding the application from the perspective of the end-user, planning around the ways the system integrated with other tools, as well as configuring hosting environments and APIs in a more developer-friendly way. The Ikonix workflow and backend logic was complicated, but every element of the user-facing interface was simplified, labeled, spaced, and color-coded.
Before & After
A scalable solution, built for the future
Other deliveries during the engagement included API testing and validation, designing and developing the front-end UI, providing consultation for database conversion and monitoring, and integrating the software with other databases and external services like mail and authentication.
The new application loads faster and is more reliable. The new user flow is more efficient. Technicians are equipped to service more machines every day and reduce mistakes. The new Ikonix system rests on a well-organized code base and simplified architecture, ensuring it will carry the organization into the future.
700%
Improvement in speed for a technician to load, verify, and print a certificate.
