The employee application landscape at an international luxury car maker was highly fragmented, with poor digital tools, making it difficult for dealers to deliver a premium customer experience. This, along with the high cost of application development, meant a new approach was needed.
It was decided to build a modern Dealer Application and API platform to enable teams and third parties to build and distribute applications for employees. However, teams were unsure how to begin to develop the platform and gain adoption from application developers and dealer markets.
Solution
We placed an interim group product manager to lead the establishment of the platform and product function. To do this we:
- Defined Platform Strategy: Developed a multi-year strategy and roadmap for the platform’s development, ensuring scalability and alignment with business objectives.
- Led Product Teams: Managed a distributed team of seven product managers, overseeing the dealer application, API, and data platforms to drive execution.
- Accelerated Application Development: Designed a developer engagement strategy, equipping teams with clear documentation, SDKs, and technical resources to reduce friction and encourage innovation.
- Expanded Market Adoption: Launched a structured rollout framework, working closely with regional markets to customize onboarding, training, and incentive programs for seamless adoption.
Outcomes
After 12 months, the dealer application platform had gained significant traction, establishing itself as a key enabler of dealer digital transformation:
- Successful Market Launch: The platform was launched to 17,000 users and 325 dealers in Germany.
- Application Growth: 24 applications were being developed on the platform.
- Solid Foundations: The foundations were in place to expand to four additional European markets and the USA, reaching over 125k
