Scaling core workflow to Improve retention in a B2B SaaS product
💪🏻 This project was led by myself (Akash Bulbule) alongside PMs (Milan & Anamika) , specifically aimed at increasing our quarterly renewal rates.
Company Overview
Powerplay is a B2B SaaS product providing tech solutions for the Indian Construction industry ($884B Market)
It acts as a Project execution tool helping construction owners aximize profits by tracking Tasks, Labour, Materials, and Expenses.
The Problem
Back in 2022, our product was heavily Optimised for Residential projects.
When the Business team scaled the same product to Commercial & Infrastructure projects, it struggled to meet user demands due to Complex workflows.
Consequently, our 1st Quarterly renewal rates reduced from 30% to 22%, severely hindering company goal of achieving $1M ARR.
Company Goal
Scale existing product for Commercial & Infra projects catering 80% of the total Construction industry improving quarterly retention rates & New sales
Role in Project
One of 5 designer leading the Material Management module as part of a cross-functional pods designing end-to-end flows across mobile and web alongside PM's (Milan & Anamika)
This Project is focused on Material management, a critical but broken workflow that directly impacts cost, timelines, and ultimately, customer retention.
Why Me?
Past 6 months leading the Retention POD giving me a deep understanding of the Material flows that Powerplay was previously lacking.
Materials contribute to 65% of overall project costs, fixing this flow was our highest priority.
In 2022 worked on Most critical funnels: Acquisition, Engagement, and Retention
Primary Research
Instead of jumping into screens, we focused on understanding behaviour.
What we did
Analysed 1,548 issue tickets (from Product,Support & Tech) (Link)
Out of which 628 issues were tied to Material workflows alone
Interviewed to 80+ paying users
Mapped end-to-end journeys (Whimsical)
Studied real-world Documents (WhatsApp, registers,Excel) (Link)
Analysed customer Workflow (Link)
Benchmarked Competitors (Link)
Key insight
Users weren’t struggling because the system lacked features.
They struggled because the system didn’t match how work actually happens.
Core Users
  |   |   |
|---|---|---|
The Business decision-maker. Cares about project budgeting, cost analysis, and profitability. | Manages financial logistics, handles vendor RFQs, issues Purchase Orders, and bridges communication between the site and the owner | Handles on-site physical operations. Needs to easily log requirements and record deliveries. |
Each step involved different people, tools, and contexts
Site Team | Office Team | Owner |
|---|---|---|
|
| Order approvals |
Wireframes
Each designer involved in low-fidelity sketches/wireframes
Dependency cases were discussed for each sprint
Prevented risks of varied context & Overlaps
UI Screens
Let's focus on fixing Material request flow, for this case study with few problems
1. Material Request flow
Problems | Redesigned to |
|---|---|
Requests were poorly structured | Standardise request creation |
No clear visibility of what’s already requested | Reduce over ordering |
No clear visibility on Material costs | Pick cost effective vendors |
No clear visibility of Material inventory on site | Improve visibility on Inventory planning |
Reduce back-and-forth between Office & Site teams |
Flow 1) 📲 Site Team creating material request (Mobile)
Flow 2)💻 Office Team creating material order (Web)
Flow 3)📲 Site Team receiving material on site (Mobile)
Testing
Conducted Usability testing (5 Paid users) with our internal Key Account Managers (KAMs) for early validation and refinement of the designs.
Evaluation focussed on: Users Information consumption & Achieving goals
Outcome
The impact showed up clearly post-launch:
37 out of 42 users retained in the test cohort from Jan-May 2024
Retention improved significantly
System scaled better to complex projects
More importantly the product moved from being a Feature tool to a Workflow system that matched real-world usage
Learnings
This project changed how I think about product design.
Complex domains aren’t solved with more features
Real value comes from aligning with User workflows, not Interfaces
Cross-role systems require thinking beyond single screens
