The Art of a 'Boring and Uneventful' Rollout: Strawberry rollout case study

A few weeks ago @matthijswelle , our CEO at Mews spent some time with the team at  Clarion Hotel® Arlanda Airport Terminal that had recently gone live at Mews. He called their onboarding with Mews “Uneventful and boring” (You can read the post here)
 

No one likes to be called Uneventful and boring, especially not by their CEO. However, for the Deployment team at Mews, this term is a testament to the power of meticulous preparation and thorough project management when implementing software at scale.
In January 2022, Strawberry embarked on a transformative project that promised to onboard hundreds of properties, and as of the time of writing, they've successfully integrated over 100, with a projection of 130 more to be onboarded by June 2024.

The Challenge: Rapid Onboarding with Uncompromised Quality

This ambitious project, spearheaded by Mews Deployment team, began with a standard onboarding process of a property located in Oslo, Norway.
The objective was clear: understand the customer’s needs comprehensively and ensure that the onboarding process aligned with the desired business outcomes.
The challenge was equally evident: find a solution to swiftly onboard a large number of properties while upholding unwavering commitment to quality.
A bigger challenge was that an entire ecosystem needed to be migrated, at scale. We needed a deployment model that was flexible and agile to adapt to the speed of integration of partners where needed.

The Solution: 'Train the Trainers' and a Strong Project Team

The team at Mews recognized the need for an innovative approach to meet the challenge head-on. Their answer was to build a "Train the Trainer" approach: a collaborative effort involving the team at Mews and the team at Strawberry, focused on establishing a robust foundation for success. Here's how they did it:

• Understanding the Customer’s organization:  The journey began with a deep dive into understanding the structure at Strawberry.  Mews conducted extensive interviews and surveys, ensuring the rollout plan could be tailored to meet the specific requirements of their large organization.
• Building a project team: Combining specialized experts from Mews and from Strawberry to streamline collaboration and ensure efficient project management lead to a smoother and more predictable rollout. The team faced together risk mitigation, quality assurance, and effective user engagement in training, which are crucial for a successful implementation.
• Creating Comprehensive Training: Realizing the importance of user adoption, Mews offered comprehensive training programs customized to Strawberry’s needs, ensuring that users were well-prepared to embrace a new technology and a new way to operate.

At the end, the Mews team trained a team of trainers, took 8 properties live onsite to build and fine tune the training plan. With the help of the dedicated Property Project Manager from Strawberry, they were able to strengthen that foundation and continue the rollout of 100 + properties remotely.

The Results: A Boringly Successful Rollout

The time required for each property onboarding has been reduced to an astonishing from 90 to 12 days to Go-Live. This period includes rigorous system checks to ensure that quality remains the top priority throughout the onboarding process.

The "Train the Trainers" project was a key driver in this success. It involved training a team of trainers of Strawberry, combining both online and onsite workshops. This collaboration extended beyond team boundaries, with the Mews Global Education team partnering with the Deployment team to create a comprehensive Learning Path. This path was designed to facilitate the seamless integration of new trainers into the chain, complete with rigorous examination processes.

The efforts these teams have not only accelerated the onboarding process but have also enhanced the overall quality of the outcomes. Mews has set a new standard for excellence in onboarding; demonstrating that a "boring and uneventful" rollout can indeed be a sign of exceptional success.

One of the biggest strengths of the “Train The Trainer” approach is the scalability and the option to tailor training needs based on the customers’ requirements. Mews give the tools, and Strawberry built the training program around the specific needs for their chain include chain specific SOP’s.

In a world where technology rollouts often come with hiccups and disruptions, Mews' approach reminds us that sometimes, 'boring and uneventful' is precisely what you want – a smooth and predictable path to success.

Mews' remarkable customer journey starts with meticulous preparation and assembling a strong project team. By doing so, Strawberry is on the verge of achieving their ambitious goals and in partnership with Mews raised the bar for excellence in transformative projects.

@olivier.vermast  and @Albert Verdejo  were the two orchestrators of this successful rollout. If you have questions or want to know more, reach out to them on the community!