Developing An IoT Solution For A Cloud-Based Auto Game-Changer

At A Glance

Connexion Media Limited is an ASX listed Internet of Things (IoT) technology company revolutionizing smart car technology for the auto industry. Seeing an opportunity for major car manufacturers, Connexion conceived Flex—a cloud-based connected vehicle management service. Without the internal resources to bring their concept to life, they partnered with GenUI to meet an aggressive launch date (helping secure a contract with General Motors) and bring a sophisticated IoT solution to millions of GM vehicles. 

Recognizing the need for help

Connexion is a small company. At the time the project began, all of their resources were dedicated to Connexion’s existing product, the miRoamer internet radio app.

”The need for Flex was immediate. We knew that there were opportunities coming up with General Motors, so we wanted to get it out on the market. We knew that we didn’t have time to recruit a team internally to do the work. We needed to outsource with an established company—someone with a team who already had the skills in place.”

Kate Thompson, Project Manager, Connexion Media Ltd.

By way of a referral from GenUI client David McLauchlan (CEO of Buddy), Connexion reached out to Seattle-based GenUI and quickly recognized the expertise and approach they needed to get to work. And distance proved never to be a challenge. As Connexion grew their development team, engineers would fly to Seattle to work at GenUI’s headquarters, and in turn, GenUI developers would fly to Melbourne to deliver knowledge transfer and guidance.

Five months later, Flex hit the market. Two months after that, Connexion won a contract with General Motors to deliver a new platform offering across their nationwide dealer network.

Flex Becomes Commercial Link

With the contract signed, Connexion's Flex would now be General Motors' Commercial Link. GM needed to rebrand the front end to debut at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas—just six months from that initial meeting. So GenUI got to work again. 

Show-stopping tech, on time and easy to use

A new front-end demo debuted at CES, garnering high interest and being lauded as “show-stopping tech” by Business Insider.

Next came the adaptation of Flex’s backend to GM’s OnStar telematics system. GM wanted the real-time data processing function to be able to handle 100,000 vehicles in the first year. GenUI lead project developer Ian Walker-Sperber flew to Melbourne to work on this opportunity side-by-side with the Connexion team.

“The idea was just for him to do knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing sessions. But, in the end, he was basically our quasi-staff development lead.”

Kate Thompson, Project Manager, Connexion Media Ltd.

Commercial Link Delivered

Collaboratively, GenUI and Connexion designed, architected, and developed a sophisticated IoT solution—from data ingestion and processing, APIs and an insights engine, to the customer dashboard that’s now available for use with millions of General Motors vehicles.

“GenUI was great with the UI/UX. We get a lot of comments on that. It’s easy to navigate and really simple. That’s what we wanted. We didn’t want to overcomplicate it. We just wanted to get whatever data we could into a web portal that would be easy for small businesses to use and understand.”

Kate Thompson, Project Manager, Connexion Media Ltd.

A summary of accolades to be proud of: 

• Flex app earned ongoing Commercial Link partnership with General Motors
• Five-month build time
• Consistent user and press accolades
• Groundbreaking IoT technology
• International multi-team development coordination

“The biggest success of the project in my mind was the design of the products and the speed to market. We had no resources, we went to GenUI - an established company and team - and straight away they picked it up and ran with it.”

Kate Thompson, Project Manager, Connexion Media Ltd.