Challenges
- Web was underutilized as a sales channel
- The content management process was entirely manual
- Complex backend infrastructure made it difficult to design a multi-channel UX
Expressway is a leading provider of transport services in Ireland, offering high quality travel via coach throughout the country. Expressway prides itself on offering an excellent customer experience, from the ticket booking process to the journey itself.
Expressway wanted their digital experience to be as modern and as comfortable as their coaches, and enlisted the help of Marino Software, a premium Kontent.ai partner, to reach their destination. Working together, they revamped their website, improved their digital architecture, and created a more seamless, modern customer experience that spans all their channels.
Understanding the needs of their customers
The project began with in-depth customer research and a full audit of the customer experience. This showed that customers needed to bounce around between different tools to plan their trip: checking maps in one place, booking tickets somewhere else, checking their calendar, and so on. While customers might be used to jumping between apps, it doesn’t feel like the luxury experience Expressway wanted to provide. They needed to create a more frictionless travel booking experience that would exceed customer expectations.
This challenge was, in fact, an opportunity. Streamlining site navigation would not only improve the customer experience–it would also increase the adoption of the web as a promising sales channel.
Expressway needed a solution that would both provide this seamless experience for their customers, and integrate all their backend services, like ticketing software, payment systems, CRM, and content management. To achieve this, Expressway had to rethink their existing architecture.
Next stop: headless
Expressway’s existing tech stack was entirely on-premise. But Marino Software knew that the best way to support their vision of a unified customer experience, integrated with all their systems, would be to move to the cloud.
They transitioned their architecture to a fully cloud-based, serverless solution. This allowed for all existing channels to integrate with their backend systems, while simplifying the process of adding new ones in the future. It also resulted in significantly lower operational costs.
With the help of this new architecture, Marino Software was able to create a single Expressway API – just what Expressway needed. This API acted as a point of contact between all of Expressway’s backend services, simplifying the process of integrating new channels and services to Expressway’s offering.
The switch to serverless, cloud-based architecture also gave Expressway the opportunity to select a new, future-facing content management system. They decided to go with Kontent.ai, modular content platform, since it would give them the ability to create content for all their future and existing channels, all in one place. Developers would have the freedom to create a new website using the technology of their choice, while content editors could take advantage of Kontent.ai’s user-friendly interface.
Launching a new online presence and planning for the future
With all-new architecture in place, Expressway launched a completely redesigned, modern, accessible website at Expressway.ie. Content for the site is created and published from Kontent.ai, which acts as a centralized content hub. This gives Expressway customers a frictionless experience across both desktop and mobile versions of the site, allowing them to plan their journeys with ease. They even have a much easier time booking tickets on the website, thanks to a smooth integration with ticketing and payment systems. This has opened up the web as a more viable sales channel, while making life a bit more convenient for Expressway customers.
It’s now easy for Expressway to update site content quickly. Sharing the latest news and alerts as soon as they happen is easy with Kontent.ai at the helm. Content editors can make updates themselves, without needing to ask for help from developers. The end result is that Expressway customers can count on high-quality information from the Expressway site, without needing to navigate different sites and apps.
Travelers can now manage their entire journey, from start to finish, using the Expressway site. They can read about potential destinations, find things to do, and book tickets all in the same place. The destination descriptions are all created in Kontent.ai, and a CTA letting customers book tickets seamlessly ties in to their ticketing system. All possible thanks to their new cloud-based system.
The new architecture also significantly reduced operational costs. Computing expenses are charged on a per-use basis, which means Expressway accrues no cost when the system is idle. And a cloud-based solution doesn’t require the maintenance and upkeep of on-premise hardware, which allows Expressway to focus on business challenges instead of technical issues.
One such upcoming challenge is expanding the number of channels Expressway provides to their customers. By going headless, Expressway can more easily increase their presence to other channels. Once new mobile apps are released, they can be easily populated with content. No need to create content from scratch, or find a new CMS for their app–Kontent.ai’s headless approach makes onboarding new channels much simpler.
A modern tech stack, which includes a headless CMS, allows Expressway to give their customers a premium travel experience before they even begin their trip. If you would like to see how Kontent.ai can fit into your tech stack, get in touch with us today.
