An All-in-One platform for managing your brewery

About

Brewery Solutions holds two (formerly three) brands to help brewers manage their operations, production, invoicing, delivery, and accounting.

Ollie Order and Ollie OPS are B2B SaaS, DaaP platforms that cover everything from Grain to Bottle, and the logistics after that bottle gets into inventory. Oznr (former brand) is an online marketplace that connects craft beverage enthusiasts with the brands they love.

Role

My Role: Senior Product Designer (UX/UI)

Tools:  Figma, Adobe CS, Jira, Notion, Figjam, Metabase, LogRocket, Churnzero, Typeform, Google tools.

Skills:  Design System, UI/UX, A/B Testing, Design Thinking, User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Quantitative & Qualitative Analysis, Journey Mapping, Usability Testing

Platforms: Web, WebApp

The team

In my role at Next Glass, I worked mainly with the Executive VP of Product. We collaborated on defining product strategy, priorities, building out procedures, and roadmapping.

My daily tasks were alongside the Engineering team, the Engineering Manager, Principal Engineer, Marketing, Customer Success, Customer Support, Sales, and Implementation managers.

Users & audience

With the diverse set of users involved in brewery management, the SaaS app can be designed to cater to their specific needs, enabling efficient operations and better decision-making across the brewery's ecosystem.

  • These individuals are responsible for the overall operation of the brewery. They use the app to monitor production, sales, inventory, and financial performance.

  • Brewmasters oversee the brewing process, recipe formulation, and quality control. They use the app to manage brewing schedules, ingredient inventory, and recipe adjustments.

  • The production team includes brewers and cellar workers who handle day-to-day brewing tasks. They use the app to access brewing instructions, record brewing data, and monitor fermentation progress.

  • This team is responsible for promoting and selling the brewery's products. They use the app to track sales, manage distribution, plan marketing campaigns, and analyze customer preferences.

  • Inventory managers monitor raw materials like hops, malt, and yeast, as well as finished products. They use the app to track inventory levels, forecast demand, and place orders for supplies.

  • This team handles financial aspects such as invoicing, expenses, and revenue tracking. They use the app to generate financial reports, track expenses, and manage budgets.

  • If the brewery has a taproom or tasting room, these managers use the app to manage customer orders, track sales, and monitor customer feedback.

  • Distributors work with the brewery to distribute products to various retailers and venues. They use the app to place orders, track deliveries, and manage distribution logistics.

People Problems*

  • “I’d like more robust reporting tools”

  • “I find the system time consuming to setup and not easy to use”

  • “Make it more user friendly”

  • “Your support team is lagging a lot lately”

  • “We need both apps to integrate better together”

* Based on the User Reviews, customer support feedback, and surveys. 

Validated by Data, User-interviews

Business Problems

  • Usability problems

  • New Acquisitions

  • Lack of constant delivery practice

  • Low number of premium users

  • High Employee turnover in Customer Support

Brands

  • Ollie OPS

    Manages brewery operations with easy-to-use raw materials forecasting, recipe management, task scheduling.

  • Ollie Order

    Manages back-of-house production and sales while integrating with existing inventory and accounting applications.

  • Oznr

    An online craft beverage marketplace that enables enthusiasts worldwide to connect directly with the brands they love.

Some of the projects I worked on,

Among many others, the projects listed below contributed to Brewery Solutions becoming recognized in its niche as an All-in-One platform for brewers to manage their business and relationships efficiently.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

A Blueprint for success

Build an intuitive navigation and ensuring users find what they need effortlessly was a top priority for Ollie to enhance user experience and engagement.

2 BECOME 1

Enhanced Experience

Our objectives were mainly, allowing users to access both applications (Ollie Order and OPS) with just one set of credentials, increasing security, an easier way to enforce security policies, and fostering scalability and flexibility.

OZNR WEBSTORE

Ability to provide a go-to for all breweries

To offer Oznr partners a user-friendly storefront with self-personalized features, product variants, and convenient options for pickup and proxy services, encompassing the entire shopping cycle.

Read more about this project here

LOT CODES

An easy way to control inventories

Ensuring traceability and accountability by enabling users to track product origins and quality, fostering trust and transparency in their purchasing experience.

DESIGN SYSTEM

Global Thinking

The implementation of the design system enabled the brand to maintain consistency, streamlining the design process and facilitating smoother delivery to engineering.

Read more about this project here

Qualitative Results

These qualitative results collectively contribute to an improved overall user experience and a positive impact on the app's brand perception. Results are based on customer feedback and user surveys.

Streamlined user Journeys

Users perceive the app as more intuitive, reducing confusion and friction.

Reduce Support Tickets

Usability has improved over time, reducing the number of support tickets.

Improved User Satisfaction

By constantly improving functionality and user experience, launching new features and fixes.

Time and effort savings

Reducing the number of clicks and constantly analyzing how to improve our journeys has resulted in faster processes and tasks.

Cohesive brand perception

Making Ollie Ops and Order consistent presents users with a streamlined brand a cohesive experience on both apps.

Competitive advantage

Ollie increased its competitive advantage over its closest competitor by enhancing ease of use and introducing quality features.

Adaptability to market needs

Adapt to evolving market needs and user preferences, ensuring long-term relevance.

A word from my manager,

Laura is one of the most dedicated and passionate people I have had the pleasure of managing and working with. At Next Glass, Laura was responsible for the UI/UX design of our most sophisticated and complex products in Ollie.

From the beginning, Laura took the time to learn the intricacies of each product and the pain points of our customers. She built out a robust design system for our products, making the design process faster and handoff to engineering smoother.

Eric Thelen
Executive Vice President
Brewery Solutions