The Challenge
The client had recently acquired a new rail franchise.
To support this new business, it was decided to build a new ecommerce engine that enabled online ticket sales directly from the franchise operator’s website.
The incumbent supplier had not invested in their system for a long period of time, and passenger feedback was far from ideal.
Very little attention had been given to modern interface design or the possibilities of modern technologies to improve the customer experience.
The business case called for a project that would:
- Create a system that could be made available to any future franchise.
- Deliver a ROI through building applications that could be sold to other operators in the UK and abroad.
- Enable the building of in-house capabilities for future digital development.
The Engagement
Enrique Fernandez-Pino, Orbbis Partner, was in place as the parent company Group CIO
Building such a complex digital tool (>40 microservices) from scratch was never going to be easy, so Enrique decided to partner with a specialist small firm and created a joint venture to deliver the project.
The development was demanding, and to improve collaboration and velocity, Enrique implemented true agile methodologies, with a scrum master orchestrating the daily work.
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was launched within a year. Post go-live new code was released fortnightly, adding significantly to the system’s functionality.
In subsequent years, the systems have been further developed, adding to the customer proposition, including Automated Delay-Repay, powered by artificial intelligence.
Enrique brought personal leadership and experience of development approaches, methodology and governance to the management of the project and the joint venture.
The Outcome
The project and approach resulted in a high-quality solution, delivered on-time and to budget which:
- Has resulted in a 15% reduction in cost of Retail and an increase of 20% in online revenues over a 24-month period.
- Has delivered leading conversion rate and better density than industry benchmarks.
- Enjoys 99.97% up time.
- Is the only solution in the market integrated with smartcards.
- Leaves a legacy of in-house digital capability.
- Has since become the second largest ecommerce ticketing engine in the UK after Trainline.
Orbbis deliver management consultancy through industry experts. Using the expertise and insights that our Orbbis Partners have built up, we create high-value, cost effective solutions to drive sustainable change and transformation across all business lines.
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