January 6, 2022 (Updated April 3rd, 2024)
How mind mapping is driving Wagonex to success
Getting caught in a knot is very familiar for fast growing businesses but with Ayoa’s mind mapping software, Wagonex have navigated their way out of a Spaghetti Junction situation and are now finding open roads of opportunity ahead. Find out how by reading their case study below:
From a bird’s-eye view, the UK would look like a land criss-crossed with roads. Some are so deeply set that they follow the same routes that the Romans first laid when they brought the transformational invention to the island. Since then, armies, horses and carts, penny-farthings, the first automobiles, and now electric vehicles, have pressed the roads of Britain firmly into the landscape.
Although they can be grounded to a halt by a mere fluttering of snow, roads are therefore integral in so many ways to the UK. However, in recent years, access to them has become more difficult from both an economical and environmental point of view. With attitudes to road usage seemingly meeting a crossroads, Wagonex delivered a better alternative to car ownership.
Knowing that financial and sustainable driving forces were prohibiting people from using the road infrastructure in the way they needed to, for the very first time, car subscription was launched in the UK. Such a scheme is an alternative model to car ownership and leasing – providing an all-inclusive package with everything a subscriber needs to get on the road for one flexible monthly fee.
As a result, car subscription with Wagonex is fair, flexible, and simple for drivers everywhere.
The model was a hit, and whilst it is still some way off reaching the dizzying heights of the Model T, Wagonex as a company are going from strength-to-strength. The good type of growing pains which a scale-up company experiences began in 2021, and that’s when they realised that more than ever they needed to rekindle the creative energy which drove their initial business idea.
Fortunately, having relocated their head offices to Tec Marina, in Cardiff, not only did new office space await them but also the chariot of Ayoa. For Oli Thomas, the Brand & Public Relations Manager for Wagonex, this was a welcome coincidence given the battle he had been facing to find “an integrated solution which keeps everyone in the company connected, especially as the company grows at an alarming rate.”
Being a naturally collaborative company, sourcing and promoting new ideas wasn’t necessarily the problem Wagonex were facing. Instead, they were struggling with how to capture and harness their all important creativity, now that they were growing with whole teams working remotely from one another.
Initially, Oli explains, Wagonex were “experimenting with the likes of Miro and Figma whiteboard options, along with a Kanban / Trello board for organisation”. However, when they parked up alongside Ayoa in their new office space, it became apparent that such an app existed where they could achieve everything they were in need of, within just one app. For starters, from a productivity perspective “using a single platform as opposed to several unconnected software packages” has been extremely beneficial.
Learn the differences between Miro vs Ayoa side by side.
When Oli looks beyond gained productivity from the unified nature of Ayoa though, another aspect of using Ayoa which the whole team particularly love is being able to be creative with purpose:
“The first time we linked tasks to the mind mapping functionality, was when we fully understood the potential of the platform – it allows us to manage multiple tasks across a product roadmap.”
The value of this to Wagonex can’t be under-estimated when having to logistically spin so many plates to keep up with their growth, and at the same time remain creative to fuel it. After all, guzzling through creativity with impact is what keeps the team ahead of the game, and why Oli labels the mind maps within Ayoa as what they couldn’t do without:
“Mind mapping is our number one use for Ayoa within the marketing team, whether it’s brainstorming content ideas, or reviewing brand strategies.”
“We use Ayoa to organize our competitor analysis in one place, where our team can easily update the map with new insights. The ability to toggle auto-focus on and off, has made finding useful information so much less time consuming than having separate documents, all in different locations, instead of a hub like Ayoa with all of it.” James Bendon, Wagonex Digital Marketing Assistant
Despite mind maps being extremely flexible (and popular with the Wagonex team), Oli and his colleagues do sometimes have to leave them – temporarily at least – to engage in other areas of work. Yet within Ayoa it’s not a case of going off-road because within easy reach the Wagonex team find plenty of tools at their disposal. For instance, Oli lists the “in-app messaging system, the extremely intuitive flowcharts, and sorting of tasks into categories” as the other aspects of Ayoa which are also in constant use to respectively “quickly tag individuals, add visualisation to whiteboards, and easily be able to see and manage workloads”.
Undeniably though, whilst initially looking for a whiteboard solution, having since discovered the natural affiliation mind maps have with creativity, for Oli and co. the mind maps are the championing asset for them within Ayoa:
“Ayoa is our go-to mind mapping tool to take the place of our trusty whiteboard as the team is flexibly working between home and the office.”
Overall, Wagonex’s enviable problem of scaling up at pace has seen them have to contend with what many might view as mutually exclusive forces – creativity and productivity – but with Ayoa “very much becoming part of our [their] regular processes after a short space of time”, they have found a way to accelerate both.
The all-in-one remote work toolkit
Ayoa is an all-in-one platform that allows teams to collaborate seamlessly while working from home. Integrations with Dropbox and Google Drive allow you to stay productive and avoid switching between apps.
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Ross McGee
Ross studied English Literature at Cardiff University, enjoying the rich diversity of perspectives and experiences which texts presented to be analysed. Graduation took him into a marketing role where consideration of various interpretations and drivers could be continued. Today his interest in understanding different standpoints has turned into a passion for supporting neurodiversity - a catalyst for alternative, creative thinking and societal breakthroughs.