According to the World Health Organization<\/em>, the global malaria death toll exceeds 500,000 annually, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/em> report around 100 million cases of often fatal dengue fever \u2013 mainly attributed to the rise of disease-transmitting mosquitos.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, over 50% of annual crop yields are destroyed by agricultural pests, which cause extensive harm and have a severe economic impact on growers. In Africa alone, up to 17.7 million tons of corn are lost yearly to fall armyworm, as reported by the UN\u2019s Food<\/em> and Agriculture Organization.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div> \n <\/div>\n After years of research and successful trials, our client sought to evolve their business by offering easy-to-use deployment systems for non-expert users. To roll out these systems to the market, they decided to build a set of digital tools to guide users at every stage of product deployment, use, and maintenance. These tools would help our client achieve higher product value, ensure seamless user experiences, and enhance customer acquisition and retention.<\/p>\n Founded in one of the most reputable UK universities, the company had a strong team of world-class scientists. However, they needed expertise in building advanced software solutions. This prompted them to seek cooperation with a reliable technology and digital consulting company capable of covering the whole project development cycle.<\/p>\n Right from the start, our client was impressed by Intellias advanced technology expertise and profound understanding of their needs. With experience in agricultural and healthcare software development, competency in product discovery, and strong advisory skills, we earned our client\u2019s trust and established a technology partnership. <\/p>\n Our team took full ownership of the software development process. Working closely with key stakeholders \u2014 public health and agricultural experts, biologists, and genetic scientists \u2014 the Intellias team started with a discovery phase to specify the client\u2019s needs, define business workflows, and offer the best-fitting solutions.<\/p>\n The discovery phase was a launchpad for getting our client\u2019s product to market. We transformed their business idea into a solution vision based on market research, stakeholders\u2019 collective goals, and a user journey map. Our experts came up with a custom software solution tailored to our client\u2019s business goals, the market context, and specific technology needs.<\/p>\n To account for potential budget changes, we conducted a deep cost\u2013benefit analysis and suggested three tech stacks, comparing their performance, time to market, and cost of development. We also estimated the cost of infrastructure operations, CRM and ERP licenses, and map SDKs.<\/p>\n Based on discovery workshop results, we suggested developing a web portal and mobile apps for B2C, B2B, and B2G customer segments. These tools were to work in tandem to cover the customer\u2019s journey from learning about the product and purchasing it to deploying and using it.<\/p>\n Our team designed user flows and a user interface considering the needs of different user groups and the client\u2019s CRM and ERP systems. As the mobile applications require offline maps for proper product deployment support, the Intellias team elaborated mapping prototypes to find the optimal map SDK.<\/p>\n The developed web portal provides detailed information about our client\u2019s product and the technology behind it. On the website, users can calculate the number of products needed to cover an area, manage product activation schedules, invite other users to join an initiative, manage user roles, and more.<\/p>\n The key function of the apps is to support users with product deployment and activation. The apps teach users how to use the product effectively as well as offer geotags, tracking, hints, calendars, reminders, the ability to place orders, and other valuable features.<\/p>\n Users can define a target area on the map and then follow instructions on their smartphone. The app provides a deployment tutorial with exact spots for placing products to ensure coverage of the entire area. When deployment is complete, users get notifications about recharging and installing the next device. After a device expires, the app instructs users on its disposal.<\/p>\n Our client set a clear goal for scaling their product from tens of thousands to millions of users in the coming years. Therefore, we designed a solution architecture that would be cost-effective while being easily scalable and resilient under high loads. Drawing on our strong cloud development expertise, our engineers built a system capable of serving millions of users through auto scaling.<\/p>\n We also implemented effective user authentication, enabling simple and secure integration with a wide range of third-party services and ensuring full compliance with industry-specific data regulations and standards.<\/p>\n Our client\u2019s solution now connects web and mobile apps for users, third-party services, and backend systems to provide product ordering, shipment and tracking, product deployment and management, inventory management, BI and reporting, compliance, customer support, and other key functions.<\/p>\nBusiness challenge<\/h2>\n
![\"Combatting](\"https:\/\/d17ocfn2f5o4rl.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/CS-Oxitec-body-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTechnology solution<\/h2>\n
Discovery process<\/h3>\n
Experience design and MVP<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nPost-MVP development and scaling<\/h3>\n