Case Study

Fortune 500 Automotive:
Fleet Platform Innovation

The Inflection Point

A Fortune 500 automotive company's innovation leader had an ambitious goal: launch a fleet services platform for small businesses within their massive corporate structure. The problem? The program was stuck in endless conceptual discussions with no clear path forward.

They needed to coordinate multiple agency partners, scale their team from 5 to 50+ people, and present credible progress to the CEO - all while building something customers would actually use. The innovation leader had the vision but needed someone who could translate that into systematic execution.

Strategic Design Partnership

I joined as the lead of Experience Strategy & Design to transform unfocused brainstorming into systematic product development. While they managed executive relationships and program strategy, I established the processes and customer insights that turned concepts into reality.

Results That Empowered Leadership

Executive Credibility

  • Presented platform vision directly to the CEO, positioning the innovation leader as someone who could deliver transformational results

  • Provided customer research and strategic frameworks they could confidently reference in stakeholder meetings

  • Enabled smooth coordination across sister agencies while maintaining executive confidence in progress

Customer-Driven Direction

  • Conducted comprehensive research with fleet managers to identify real pain points in vehicle maintenance and scheduling

  • Created clear customer personas that guided feature decisions instead of internal assumptions

  • Built platform architecture that actually solved problems small businesses face with their vehicle fleets

Product That Shipped

  • Designed intuitive experience allowing fleet managers to add vehicles, schedule service, and monitor performance

  • Implemented user testing every sprint to ensure customers could actually use what we built

  • Delivered systematic discovery and delivery process that kept momentum going week after week

Team That Scaled

  • Grew team from 5 to 50+ people across UX, design, copywriting, and engineering with clear coordination methods

  • Established processes the innovation leader's team could run independently after our engagement

  • Created sustainable workflow connecting customer insights to feature development that continued beyond our partnership

Why This Approach Works

When business leaders need to launch innovative products within complex organizations while scaling teams and managing executive expectations, they need more than a strategist and a designer. They need strategic design partnership that can establish systematic processes while delivering the customer insights and team coordination that drives measurable results.

The innovation leader's success shows how the right partnership transforms conceptual vision into systematic execution, creating sustainable capabilities that continue delivering value while building internal strength for ongoing innovation.

Strategic design leadership that cultivates teams and ships results through systematic customer-focused execution.