We had the opportunity to present at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce’s Logistics Council annual event, alongside our partners at InQ. There, we shared our journey building a custom app to support the circular economy—an innovative inventory trading platform that reused inventory in the medical device industry.
The InQ web app was designed to optimize and realign medical inventory through big data and an AI-assisted trading system: unused inventory items were inputs, and outputs were trade recommendations. It sounds simple, but building this trading ecosystem took extensive app design, robust backend development, and a deep understanding of how to drive user adoption.
Here’s what we learned:
Inventory Management Systems Aren’t Perfect—and That’s OK
If you’ve used inventory management systems (IMS) like SAP or Move Medical, you know how rigid and complex they can be. When introducing InQ’s new trading app, the biggest pushback was doubt around inventory accuracy. Many organizations didn’t trust their existing IMS data enough to start trading. They also weren’t confident that their sales force kept an accurate inventory count for their territories.
Initially, we treated this as a software problem, but it wasn’t. It was a behavior problem that ended up being a strength!
Once we launched an intuitive, well-designed trading platform, users became motivated to clean up their own inventory data. Sales reps and inventory managers began to update their IMS voluntarily, simply because they wanted to use the app to gain value—value that resulted in higher sales commissions. This proved one of our core beliefs: great app design drives user behavior.
Behavior Change Starts with Great UX and UI
A critical component of our app development process was creating a user interface (UI) that felt modern, responsive, and accessible. Legacy systems like SAP are notoriously difficult to use. We knew our app had to be the opposite: fast, intuitive, and centered on user needs.
So we asked the right questions to validate our app development approach:
- Inventory Managers: What tools do you need to track inventory effectively?
- Directors and Above: What KPIs are critical for evaluating inventory efficiency?
- Sales Managers: When should approvals be required, and who needs visibility?
- Sales Reps: How can we make this app a daily tool that helps you serve your customers?
This deep dive into user requirements allowed us to better customize the app design for each user type. The result was a streamlined platform that aligned with the existing workflows of medical device companies, encouraging adoption without overwhelming users.
Big Data Requires Big Thinking
App development for large organizations always involves scale. InQ’s platform had to process massive amounts of data in real-time, including trade distance, shipping costs, product priorities, and more.
No two companies had the same logic or preferences for trades. So we built a modular engine using AWS, combining serverless functions with dedicated processing power. The result: a robust backend that could compute millions of trade permutations on the fly and adjust according to organizational needs.
This wasn’t just about UI and UX—it was about architecture. Strong app development means balancing a sleek front end with a scalable, reliable backend.
Tech Integration Needs to Be Frictionless
Our users weren’t just sales reps or managers. We had to win over IT departments too. That meant ensuring the platform fit smoothly within each organization’s tech ecosystem.
We asked questions like:
- What SSO (single sign-on) system do you use?
- How frequently is your IMS updated?
- Can we get permission to integrate directly, or do we need an alternative data dump?
We also paid attention to minimizing friction. From login to trade completion, we reduced the number of clicks it took to accomplish tasks. Great app design eliminates barriers, making the experience as effortless as possible for end users and tech managers.
Behavior Change > Technology Hurdles
One of our biggest challenges wasn’t technical; it was emotional. Many users feared that our software would replace jobs. But the reality was quite the opposite. This app was a support tool for inventory professionals, not a substitute.
Once we shifted our messaging to an inventory tool, adoption increased. Inventory departments saw that the app gave them more control, not less. It freed them up to focus on higher-value work and helped align inventory needs across sales territories.
Visibility and Transparency Always Matter
Another benefit of the platform was the unexpected visibility it provided. Companies confirmed that inventory wasn’t always where it was supposed to be—sometimes shockingly in garages, car trunks, or storage lockers. With our app, users began re-inventory items they had forgotten about or were too lazy to track into their IMS.
As adoption grew, inventory accuracy across their organization improved, bridging the gap between field knowledge and IMS.
Marketing Was the Final Key to Success for InQ
Despite powerful app design and solid development, internal adoption within medical device companies still needed a big push. That’s where our marketing agency came in.
We created marketing collateral:
- Sales sheets for crucial conversations
- User guides for faster customer onboarding
- Quick-start manuals to alleviate sales support
- Info sheets tailored to stakeholder concerns
Our web design and creative teams worked alongside our developers to deliver marketing collateral that supported InQ’s real-time sales conversations and onboarding process.
The Bottom Line
As an app design and development, and digital marketing agency in Columbus, Uplancer Agency immersed itself in this project to help InQ:
- Build a platform that powers behavior change
- Drive inventory optimization
- Embrace the circular economy.
From UX to big data processing and stakeholder marketing, we delivered a product that solved real-world problems.
Whether you’re building a trading platform or a custom internal tool, the lessons here apply: Start with the user, design for adoption, and ensure your app development strategy accounts for every layer of the business.
Want to build an app that drives real change?
Connect with Uplancer to learn how our app development and app design services can transform your ideas into digital solutions that work.
