Intellibreed, Biologics, Apollo Pro-Connect
Brand: Charles River Labs
Mission: Enhancing quality of life by leveraging technology to accelerate the journey from drug discovery to FDA approval.
Intellibreed, animal colony management
Role: Director of Product Design, stakeholder, & contributor
Problem:
How might we create a better animal colony management solution for our customers?
Previous state: Didn’t exist
Completed by Product Designer…
- Conducted 10 Voice of Customer (VOC) interviews and gathered insights from 196 customer survey responses.
- More than half of our customers rely heavily on large Excel spreadsheets for their work.
Designs and prototyping:
MVP priorities based on design sprint:
- Streamlined processes for onboarding, animal identification, ad-hoc task completion, and statistics.
- Created virtual animal rooms that replicate real working conditions.
- Introduced drag-and-drop functionality for easy rearrangement of animals and cages.
- Added color-coded icons to indicate different cage types.
- Designed a holding area for temporarily storing animals involved in experiments.
Results:
- Launched internally and was put on hold by leadership for business reasons.
Customer quote:
I needed you 12 years ago to do this for me and I'm very upset you didn't do it 12 years ago because that was my life trying to figure out how long it would take to get to my end goal.
Biologics, sample submission process
Role: Director of Product Design & stakeholder
Problem:
How might we create a more efficient sample submission process?
Previous state:
- Over 25 pages of PDF forms requiring customers to manually fill out, sign, gather shipping instructions, generate labels, and ship to the lab.
- Outdated tracking systems with no delivery updates.
- Persistent duplication of efforts and issues, creating inefficiencies for customers and staff alike.
Solution:
- Transformed a lengthy 25-page PDF form into a streamlined web form with built-in verification and SmartSheet integration.
- Allows customers to easily create & submit a Sample Study Submission application.
- Includes fields for signatures, shipping instructions, and label generation.
- Provides tracking information and real-time updates on delivery and sample intake directly from the lab.
Results:
- Processed 2,481 study submissions and managed over 4,000 unique sample submissions.
- Reduced financial and environmental costs by minimizing the need for printed forms.
- Shortened the Sample Study Submission process by 15 days per study.
- Developed a template tool for study submissions, allowing customers to easily resubmit similar studies with minimal effort.
Apollo Pro-Connect, chatbot (case study)
Role: Director of Product Design & lead
Problem:
How might we streamline customer support and updates for customers in Apollo (web application)?
Previous state:
- Contact Us button for reaching out to customer service for assistance, which generates a ticket in ServiceNow.
- Email and phone support.
Solution:
As a case study, I designed Apollo Pro-Connect, a concept iOS app focused on future customer support solutions. This app uses AI to power a chatbot, allowing customers to connect with CRL services and receive real-time updates on their drug studies.
In one scenario, the app enables customers to contact a Safety Assessment Scientist directly for status updates on their study.
