We built a mobile app that simplified sensor installations, and allowed technicians to complete more deployments per day, without adding headcount.
Increase in installation capacity
Fewer installation steps
Faster customer onboarding
Overview
SmartSense is part of Digi International, a global provider of IoT solutions. They build remote monitoring products used by companies in retail, pharma, food service, and logistics.
As they've grown, we've remained partners through their key moments like M&As, handling integrations and modernization without disrupting operations for their clients.
Partnership started, still active today.
Kaizen engineers and designers involved.
Active long-term initiatives.
CONTEXT
Physical sensors installed at customer locations collect environmental data and send it to a monitoring platform in real time.
The installation process behind those sensors was the core of this project.
Cold storage and food safety monitoring.
Temperature-controlled medication storage.
Environmental condition monitoring.
Challenges
project Goal
The goal was to simplify and automate the sensor installation process with a mobile app technicians could use directly on-site.
Our Approach
Before building software, we mapped how installations actually worked in the field. The goal was to find where time was lost, where errors started, and which manual steps were slowing the business down.
The original process required operators to assign sensors before deployment and manually associate them again after installation before data could flow into the platform. We redesigned the workflow so those steps happened automatically during installation, reducing coordination, setup mistakes, and operational overhead.
We developed a mobile app technicians could use directly during deployments. Sensors could now be scanned, assigned, validated, and synced in real time from a single guided workflow.
Technicians could also instantly verify sensor readings and detect battery or device issues during installation.
Instead of spending months building in isolation, we released an early usable version and improved it with direct feedback from technicians performing real installations. That helped reduce the risk of overbuilding the wrong solution and allowed the workflow to evolve around real operational conditions.
Impact
Technicians now complete twice as many deployments per day, without adding headcount.
The process went from 6 to 3 guided steps, reducing complexity and lowering the chance of setup errors.
Errors dropped from 10% to near zero through real-time validation, which prevents incorrect setups before they happen.
Automating assignment, validation, and data sync removed repetitive tasks and frees up time for higher-value work.
Faster, more reliable installations mean customers start using the system sooner.
Testimonial
Former VP of Program Management, SmartSense by Digi
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