Industry

IOT

Type

B2B2C

Smart building technology company focused on digital solutions for managing buildings and workplaces.

Context

Alfred Smart is a smart building management platform operating across multiple verticals: Home, Offices, Built-to-Rent, Hotels, and Parking. The product ecosystem consists of: 1) A tenant-facing mobile app for access control, climate management, bookings, and other building services. 2) An Assets Manager web platform for property managers. 3) An integrated IoT infrastructure including smart locks, climate sensors, consumption monitoring, and connected devices. Each vertical involves different stakeholders, unique use cases and user journeys, variable occupancy cycles and different levels of operational complexity. The challenge was not about designing isolated features for each vertical, it was transforming an existing technology foundation into a cohesive product system capable of scaling across different business models. The main structural challenges were: - Inconsistent experiences across verticals. - Design decisions driven by short-term business needs rather than a scalable product strategy. - Lack of a clear framework to define what should remain core and what should be adapted per vertical. - Increasing development complexity caused by accumulated product inconsistencies.

The approach combined a heuristic analysis of the existing platform, the creation of a user-centered Design System, and an iterative process of ideation and validation.

The main objectives were: 1) Enable component reuse across multiple verticals. 2) Adapt the product architecture without duplicating solutions. 3) Align mobile and web experiences under a shared product logic. 4) Prepare the platform for a scalable SaaS model. The impact was reflected across three key areas: 1) Product - Established a consistent multi-vertical product foundation. - Reduced design inconsistencies across experiences. - Created a modular and sustainable product architecture. 2) Business - Increased the ability to adapt the product to new market opportunities. - Turned the platform into a stronger commercial enablement tool. - Prepared the product foundation for a SaaS business model. 3) Design - Created a cross-functional, evolving Design System. - Established a culture of continuous validation and iteration. - Reduced ad-hoc design decisions through shared patterns and guidelines.

Key Learnings

- Scaling multiple verticals without a shared system creates structural product debt. - A Design System is strategic product infrastructure, not just a UI library. - Ad-hoc solutions often hide deeper systemic needs. - Validating designs within real operational contexts leads to better product decisions. - In B2B2C products, operational workflows are a key driver of the user experience.

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