Expertise Delivered
Frontend, Backend & QA
Industry
Food and Beverage
The Client
Ann’s Boba Tea is an American bubble tea franchise (also known as Pearl Milk Tea or Boba Milk Tea). It was founded in 2010 and has over 350+ locations across the US.
The tea is brewed at the perfect temperature with milk, fresh ingredients, and a unique recipe and presented innovatively. Customers can earn rewards for each order placed and redeem reward points against future orders.
Disclaimer— The name Ann’s Boba Tea is a placeholder, as both parties have signed an NDA.
The Challenge
Ann’s in-store and online ordering applications were created using LevelUp (a customer engagement and mobile payment platform) as the backend. However, LevelUp was being discontinued, so our client needed to transition its existing user data and ordering system to Paytronix (a cloud-based customer experience management platform for restaurants and convenience stores).
Here are the top 6 challenges faced while implementing this transition.
1. Store Information:
Paytronix, the newer platform, failed to provide detailed store-related information compared to the older tool’s backend. To maintain consistency with the user experience, regardless of the transition, we had to find a way to ensure users continued to receive the same amount and quality of detailed information.
2. User Experience:
A crucial challenge was ensuring that all features on Paytronix functioned precisely as they did with LevelUp, especially the in-store and online ordering systems, which primarily accounted for the user experience (for employees and customers).
3. Credit Card Management:
Adding a credit card to a wallet and auto-recharge were important payment features included with LevelUp. Therefore, we had to find ways to replicate them with Paytronix.
4. Customizing Orders:
LevelUp offered ample options to customize an order by allowing customers to choose from different toppings like Tapioca, Pudding, Nata Jelly, Red Beans, and more. This same functionality was complex to include with Paytronix.
5. Paytronix Migration:
One of the biggest challenges was understanding Paytronix’s operational landscape. To migrate successfully, we needed to understand the different Paytronix APIs and code bases. Only then could we match the behavior of features/functionalities offered by LevelUp.
6. Time-Constraints:
As LevelUp was getting discontinued by a particular date, adhering to a strict timeline was imperative.
Why Maruti Techlabs?
Ann’s Boba Tea chose Maruti Techlabs as their partner due to our extensive experience developing and implementing innovative IT solutions, precise understanding of their problem, and detailed migration strategy.
Our experts presented the potential challenges and proposed solutions to ensure a seamless transition. Furthermore, we time-boxed tasks and delivered on our committed timeline to conclude the entire migration before sunsetting the previous platform. This offered us ample time to conduct numerous tests on the new platform.
Our technical prowess, reliable governance, and timely communication impressed our client the most. What made us an ideal partner was our commitment to delivering on time and within budget following a transparent process.
Solution
Ann’s in-store and mobile apps are operated via the same backend platform, LevelUp. Therefore, not switching would have caused significant disruptions with our client’s services, tainted their brand’s reputation, and incurred substantial monetary losses.
Here’s how we approached the switch to Paytronix.
We commenced with ‘Sprint Zero,’ a planning phase, before beginning active development. In this phase, we allotted two programmers to work on the same code (AKA pair programming) to gain clarity on the app’s original code, structure, and how it functioned.
The programmers also reviewed different Paytronix APIs to help ease this transition. This approach helped us maneuver migration challenges.
After a thorough analysis, we decided on a two-part solution and proposed working parallelly on both to meet the deadline.
Phase 1: Firstly, we integrated the Paytronix online ordering website within the app to keep the online ordering experience intact.
If developing the native application proves challenging and time-consuming, our client could deploy this solution to avoid downtime and disruptions.
Phase 2: We parallelly created a replica of the app leveraging the Paytronix API for in-store and online ordering. This approach was more straightforward but required more development time.
Using Paytronix, we created features like:
The timely backend switch to Paytronix prevented service downtime and sales reductions. Ann’s Boba Tea continued to offer its services as it had earlier without causing any inconvenience to its customers or compromising its sales or reputation.
Communication and Collaboration
To deliver the project on schedule, we deployed a five-member team of 3 React Native developers, 1 QA engineer, and 1 Technical Project manager. Our primary source of communication was the Technical Lead at Ann’s Boba Tea.
The project’s total timeline was 3.5 months. Every Tuesday, we conducted a weekly call to discuss the progress, doubts, and other updates.
Here are the platforms we used for communication.
- Slack: Daily Communication
- Jira: Project Management
- Zoom: Weekly Calls
- Google Meet: Unplanned Calls
Technology Stack
Result
Making this timely transition to Paytronix resulted in significant improvements and service perks. Here’s a brief list of these enhancements.
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Our timely completion of the platform (before its current backend platform sunsetted) resulted in no downtime in the online ordering services.
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We facilitated a seamless transition to the new platform, ensuring no disruptions to the user experience.
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The exquisite app experience significantly boosted its ratings on the App Store (4.7).
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Our experts added extra layers to protect the data and enhance the app’s security.
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The transition enhanced the app’s performance and reduced app glitches and crashes.
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We designed a futuristic app that could adapt to new technological developments.
Maruti Techlabs helped plan and execute the transition of the backend platform. This timely switch allowed Ann’s Boba Tea to offer continual services without disrupting their online and physical store services. If you, too, face such a situation and cannot decide on the next step, contact us today and let our experts devise the perfect strategy for your next tech upgrade.
Our Development Process
We follow Agile, Lean, & DevOps best practices to create a superior prototype that brings your users’ ideas to fruition through collaboration & rapid execution. Our top priority is quick reaction time & accessibility.
We really want to be your extended team, so apart from the regular meetings, you can be sure that each of our team members is one phone call, email, or message away.
