Collect+: from zero to 500+ sites in 60+ countries.
A product I conceived and launched. It has since been retired from sale, but under the company’s 7-year support policy it is still installed and running in many factories worldwide.
Problem
The portfolio had no web-based way for customers to collect, see, and act on data from their devices. Customers needed one place to manage devices, configure data streams, and build their own views.
My role
Global product manager. Conceived and launched the product. Owned release priorities.
Outcome
Scaled from 0 to 500+ active sites in 60+ countries. Delivered on a predictable, on-schedule release cadence with an agile development team.
From paper mockups to a released platform.
The portfolio’s first web-based data collection and visualization platform, with device management, data stream configuration, and user-configurable dashboards.
The calls that shaped it.
Web-based, any device.
I made it browser-based so people could check their data and dashboards from anywhere, on any device, including their phones. Nothing to install on the user’s side; just a browser.
A designer, not fixed reports.
Every customer connected different devices, so every data set was different. Customers built their own dashboards in a designer UI, around the data that mattered to their operation. Pre-engineered templates came later.
Feedback in, ranked by reach.
Every piece of customer feedback went into the backlog. I prioritized whatever helped the most customer use cases, and worked with project management to bundle items into each sprint.
An ecosystem idea that partly stuck.
Early on I created “Sync+,” a compatibility mark meant to show customers which hardware and software worked together. It didn’t spread across the company’s wider product line, but it did shape how Form+ connected its industrial PCs to the software.
What I left out of v1.
No device-specific communication drivers. Instead, a configurable string parser. No pre-built dashboard templates either, but v1 could import templates and export any dashboard as one, so the template library could grow later.
A trial reps could hand over.
Besides the website download, I designed a premium retail-style box (inspired by the iPhone box) holding a USB stick with an etched-glass Collect+ logo. Reps left unlicensed boxes with prospects, and a 45-day free trial was built in.
A product scales when customers can shape it to their own work without waiting on you.
Ready for a full-time role, and easy to reach.
I’m based in Concord, New Hampshire, and I’m looking for my next full-time role in software product management or business development, in any industry.
contact@andrewbowman.me