CBRE
Global real estate scaled for success

CBRE Enterprise Apps

We partnered with the world’s largest commercial real estate services company across a variety of projects, building a solid structural foundation for continued growth

Background

CBRE is a global leader in commercial real estate services and investments, with dozens of digital applications and services for its customers. As with any large organization with thousands of employees, a geographically diverse workforce, and an extensive digital presence, consistency across all of its brand touchpoints is critical. Fresh was brought on to design various apps and apply a consistent look, feel, and identity. The end goal was positioning their team to continue carrying out the digital transformation initiative into the future.

Challenges

  1. Driving a broad strategic initiative forward while prioritizing smaller projects and an agile, iterative workflow
  2. Ensuring brand consistency at every touchpoint, including UX/UI, video, brand strategy, and systems design

  3. Compiling a multi-disciplinary team of consultants that served as an extension of CBRE’s, delivering value across a range of diverse challenges

Key Contributors

Marc Wallace
Marc Wallace
Aravind Ravi
Aravind Ravi
Amber Franz
Amber Franz
Nuriel Mizrahi
Nuriel Mizrahi
Walter Nicholas
Walter Nicholas
Ryan Knopp
Ryan Knopp
Donnie Ellstrom
Donnie Ellstrom
Randall Tateishi
Randall Tateishi
Travis Luong
Travis Luong
Elisha Terada
Elisha Terada
Isaac Campbell
Isaac Campbell
Lexi Templer Kendall
Lexi Templer Kendall
Robbie Rice
Robbie Rice
Rob Crichard
Rob Crichard
Adam McRae
Adam McRae
Mikalai Andreyanau
Mikalai Andreyanau
Mariana Araújo
Mariana Araújo
Xi Li
Xi Li
Eunice Do
Eunice Do
Chris Woodhouse
Chris Woodhouse
Natalie Zier
Natalie Zier
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Deal IQ & Finish Line Demo

Deal IQ and Finish Line were two complex applications that needed an easy-to-grasp demo showcasing how the tools worked and the value they provide to the end-user. Our video team took a hands-on approach, diving into the application’s functionality and becoming experts to tell a story not just about what the application is but also a preview of its intricacies and value to customers.

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Facility Source

CBRE FacilitySource is a cutting-edge provider of Facility Management services to enterprise clients like Home Depot, FedEx, and Target. When CBRE purchased Facility Source, the fmPilot app had solid functionality but was aesthetically dated and required unnecessary clicks, leading to user frustrations and unoptimized workflows. To improve employee productivity and increase sales, CBRE hired Fresh to update the UX without disrupting the core functionality for existing internal and external users.

We observed core fmPilot users doing their most common tasks to discover what works well and where common problems arose. We also worked with the Facility Source development team to understand the current system and bridge the gap between human needs and system parameters. Finally, we collaborated with stakeholders to define and prioritize design efforts.

What started as a quick aesthetic update developed into a multi-pronged effort to research and refine several essential flows for administrators, facility managers, dispatchers, and technicians.

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ServiceInsight

CBRE acquired the ServiceInsight application in 2017 and processed five million facility maintenance work orders by the end of 2018. The ServiceInsight suite consisted of three unique web applications and two mobile applications for iOS and Android. Fresh was hired to unify the aesthetics and interactions for two reasons: ensure that all applications felt like they were part of the same product family and make it easier to sell the application as a service.

Each application had similar functionality but different ways of executing the functionality. Unifying the applications required in-depth interviews and observations to discover common pain points and opportunities. Creating a similar interface across applications cut down on development time and made it easier to sell the service lines as part of a unified product suite.

We started by workshopping onsight with ServiceInsight stakeholders and developers to align on critical issues. After aligning on the key issues, we began in-depth user interviews and observations. Defining the core workflows and pain points helped paint the picture of how to redesign the applications.

The final output was a Design Language System that could be applied across each of the applications to create a unified look and feel. We removed over eighty clicks from the existing workflow. We also provided a redesigned logo system that visually ties each of the applications together as a full suite rather than stand-alone applications.

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Sequentra

Sequentra is CBRE’s flagship property portfolio management application. From managing invoices to forecasting opportunities and challenges, the application houses robust data and feature sets. CBRE hired us to update the overall user experience from workflows through aesthetics to help improve sales of the service and improve employee satisfaction and productivity.

Because the Sequentra app was created in 2002, it had an outdated aesthetic appeal and codebase by modern standards. Over the eighteen-year lifespan of the product, some features had become disconnected from user needs and understanding. Our team dove in with the stakeholders, developers, and users to uncover the root of the issues and collaborate on feasible solutions to be rolled out within the year.

After interviewing 20+ users and workshopping with key stakeholders, Fresh began designing and testing new workflows that improved the user experience from login through task completion. Our team redesigned the landing page experience and navigation structures to match key persona-specific workflows. This allowed users to find and understand key data necessary for processing reports, creating and editing leases, and approving expenses.

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Market Builder

Fresh delivered the full UX/UI process using agile methodologies for continuous development and updating of internal systems. During the research phase, we conducted stakeholder interviews, crafted personas, built process maps, and wrote and prioritized tasks and user stories.

During the design phase, we created wireframes, designed mockups and prototypes for a refreshed Market Builder, and tested our concepts at every stage to ensure we were delivering a great experience for all levels of management. Then, we assembled a team of front-end developers to execute on a layer of solidly, highly-performant APIs.

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