Winthor Anywhere is a cloud-based platform developed to drive the digital transformation of businesses, particularly in the wholesale and retail sectors. It extends the capabilities of the original Winthor system, offering web-based functionalities that enhance operational efficiency and improve communication across the value chain. By moving to the cloud, Winthor Anywhere allows businesses to access critical tools and resources from anywhere, ensuring greater flexibility and scalability. With integrated technological resources, the platform helps companies meet current market demands while preparing them for future challenges.

Duration

12 months

One of the major challenges in revamping Winthor Anywhere was managing the sheer volume of information and processes that the original software contained. The old software was outdated, relying on old technology and stuck in the past in terms of how tasks were handled. Designed for an earlier era, it struggled to keep up with modern user expectations, and its complex workflows made navigating the system cumbersome. Users often faced an overwhelming interface with numerous steps for even simple tasks, leading to inefficiencies and errors. Condensing these processes into a more streamlined and intuitive design without losing core functionality required a meticulous approach. The team had to thoroughly evaluate each element of the software, ensuring essential features were retained while eliminating redundant or overly complicated steps.

This large-scale project, completed over two years, involved workshops with leadership, the UX team, developers, and clients to ensure alignment and gather comprehensive feedback. These collaborative efforts were critical in balancing the need for increased functionality on each screen with the goal of maintaining a clean, user-friendly experience. By applying the full double diamond process of design thinking and leveraging insights from all stakeholders, the team successfully modernized the system. The result was a flexible, scalable solution that minimized training requirements and improved usability, ensuring the software was future-ready to meet the evolving needs of businesses.

Users of the original Winthor system expressed significant frustration with the software’s complexity and steep learning curve. The interface was cluttered and unintuitive, requiring multiple steps to complete even simple tasks, which led to inefficiencies in daily operations. Moreover, the heavy hardware demands made the system slow and cumbersome, especially for smaller companies with limited resources. One of the biggest pain points was the extensive training required to get employees up to speed, often resulting in costly onboarding processes whenever new staff were hired. These frustrations underscored the need for a more user-friendly, efficient solution.

The goal of the Winthor Anywhere project was to overhaul the software, focusing on creating an intuitive and easy-to-use system. This involved making the software lighter to reduce hardware requirements, improving the UI, and consolidating tools to streamline processes and minimize steps. A critical objective was to pack more functionality into each screen while keeping the interface simple and accessible. One of the driving forces behind the revamp was to significantly reduce the need for extensive training, enabling clients to seamlessly transition employees without investing heavily in onboarding them to the system.