HOGESCHOOL INHOLLAND, DIEMEN

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GRADUATION PROJECT - “COMMUT-E”

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International Business Innovation Studies Tudor Mihai Roteb Lease
Wildenborch 6 +31 626 499 484 Kleinpolderplein 5
1112 XB Diemen 547499@student.inholland.nl
 3042 CE Rotterdam
TABLE OF CONTENT
1/ The process 2
2/ Ideation 3
3/ Selection/converging 9
4/ Developing & prototyping 10
5/ Evaluation criteria 21
6/ Implementation 22
7/ Reflection 24
Appendix 26
1. THE PROCESS

Methodology
Coming up with the final solution is the result of a series of iterations. In order iterate different ideas, I did a market analysis to see what mobility-as-a-
service solutions already exist, what they offer and what is their unique selling proposition. At the beginning, I was just writing all companies in my
logbook, so that after I would cluster them in two categories: ride sharing & ride pooling. Ride sharing is when people use a mobile app to rent a car
for a defined period (from minutes to days); they can pick it up and leave it at different places and drive it themselves. The only difference with ride
pooling is that people use this service are not drivers themselves, but passengers, usually joining the driver who was going in the same direction as
them.
Inspiration & Market analysis
Going more into the characteristics of these services, I found out that only car sharing companies make available either to rent their company’s car, or
act as an intermediary to make possible renting someone else’s private car. On the other side, ride pooling companies only act as intermediaries,
making use of people’s private car, and not only until very recently (April, 2018) the first company appeared (ViaVan) who made possible ride
pooling with its own cars and dedicated drives. By the way, the service is available only in the ring of Amsterdam. Suddenly, I saw the opportunity to
enter a new market that has not been touched yet in the Netherlands, while in other countries ride pooling already exists, with the well-known
UberPOOL in the United States (which is slightly different, as they still use people’s private cars to perform rides).
By looking more at what other countries are offering as mobility-as-a-service solutions, I found that India and the US have the most offerings. India is
special because they offer many omnichannel apps from which you can book a taxi, rent a car, buy train tickets and so on. On the other side, the US
offer more specialized services, but not as ride sharing, but as ride hailing (similar to UBER) focused on certain target groups, such as services only for
women (SeeJaneGo - with women drivers) and services that pick-up children for school (HopSkipDrive). This made me think that a specialized
service might be useful in the Netherlands as well. As my research was focused on a specific target group – people that travel to work in business
centres from other cities – it seemed like a viable idea to offer a service specially tailored for them.
Therefore, I decided to search if there is any company providing specialized ride pooling services for commuters and find out about Toogethr. This
company acts as a connector for people that live close to each other and go to work at the same company. Their method is to approach corporates
and sell their service, which is an app where employees log in to put their departure and destination address. There is always one person who needs
to take their car and drive, picking up to three more people on the way. As a reward, the driver would get credits, which he or she can spend at the
company’s cafeteria, or at partner’s stores. The concept is designed in such way that everyone will be the driver in his or her own car, as well as
passenger in other people’s car, making switches every day. The idea behind this app is to connect people together to work in order to have the car
seats as full as possible, hoping to reduce traffic congestion.
I decided to have a phone call with one of the founders to find out more about how well the company is doing. The response was that the adoption
rate is quite low because corporates do not want to mix up each other’s employees, even though the offices are situated close to each other.
Moreover, the drivers did not see enough benefit to pick up other people on the way, as it took them more time and there was not a big reward at
the end more important than time saved. As a result, people used the service at the beginning, they created relationships with two or three people
that travel in the same destination, and created their own group on WhatsApp for setting up appointments when they felt like. The conclusion is that
Toogethr wanted to connect people to each other, but their added value was not enough to keep their customers using their service.

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1. THE PROCESS

As Roteb Lease is not only specialized in cars, but also scooters, I carried out a market research on this segment of mobility-as-a-service solutions,
hoping that I can spot another opportunity. The only options available in the Netherlands for scooters is a new ride sharing company for the ring of
Amsterdam (FelyxScooter) that allows people to rent an electric scooter with the help of a mobile app. Talking about bike sharing, there are two
companies that offer this service. One of them is Urbee, which offer their services to corporates in order for its employees to use them if they leave
no further than 25km from the office. What is special about Urbee is that they install a bike-charging rack at the company’s location and the company
pays them a monthly subscription. Besides that, Urbee also has a B2C business model, where anyone can rent a bike with a smartphone from a few
minutes to a monthly subscription.
Below is a table with the MAAS companies I found from the Netherlands, as well as some from abroad. I did not go into explanation of each of them
here, but I wrote down in my logbook more about each on. I chose to talk only about the ones that are coloured in green because they are the ones I
use as inspiration for the future development of the final solution. As it can be seen below, I got inspired from companies that are situated in
different categories, each with unique value propositions. Later on, I will explain how I combined them to create something new.

Ride sharing Ride pooling Ride Hailing Bike / scooter sharing

Private Company Private Company Private Company
SnappCar Car2go BlaBlaCar ViaVan Uber FelyxScooter
MyWheels Ioniq Toogethr Snapfiets
Buurauto Greenwheels Outside of Netherlands Urbee
UberPOOL Lyft
SeeJaneGo (female only)
HopSkipDrive (children only)

2. IDEATION

Idea 1 – Carpooling add-on

Even though there are many ride-sharing companies, the problem of people driving alone in the car does not go away. Therefore, even though
people make use of the sharing economy and have an alternative to purchasing their own vehicle, the traffic situation does not improve. I see these
services as already available resources that are not fully exploited. Why is it not possible when someone rents a car for his trip to pick-up another
person that goes in the same direction? For example, when someone rents a Greenwheels to go home from work, or vice versa, he or she could pick
someone with him. The reason to start with this idea is because the resources are already in place, but only a software/system is missing which allows
a connection between travellers. This makes it cheap to implement and could offer a possible high return.
In order to see the viability/desirability of the idea, I made a section with Pros and Cons, which will be the way of assessing all the ideas in this rubric.
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2. IDEATION
How relevant is it for the client (Roteb Lease)?
Roteb Lease has experience in vehicle leasing & maintenance, therefore they PROs CONs
should buy cars and lease them to MAAS companies such as Greenwheels,
with smart carpooling system integrated in each car. -Uses existing infrastructure - How do we connect with so
many MAAS companies to
Why would Greenwheels (or other MAAS) buy from Roteb Lease and not do it -Drivers can split up the enable ‘pooling’ in their app?
themselves? journey costs APIs?
Roteb Lease can offer included maintenance and the advantage for
Greenwheels of not having to buy their own cars. - Takes more time from A to B
Conclusion - Need to develop carpooling
software
The advantages presented to the buyer (Greenwheels) are not very convincing,
especially because Roteb Lease will offer them a software, which they do not - What is the business case?
have any experience with building. Moreover, the business case is not very
attractive either because the main product (software) needs to be built with off-
house capabilities. Therefore, the solution is not viable.

Idea 2 – Start their own car sharing & pooling
company
If Idea 1 was not attractive for possible clients, then
Roteb Lease could start their own car sharing & pooling
service with their own cars, being direct competitors of
Greenwheels and all the other ride-sharing companies.
Transform CONs into PROs:
Why not use Greenwheels’ user base with cars from
Roteb Lease and split profits?
Idea 3 – Partnership with Greenwheels for users
and contribute with own fleet
This idea comes from analysing the second idea and
seeing that a possible partnership would be
beneficial. This idea proposes to partnership with
Greenwheels to have access to its user base &
market entry, while Roteb Lease has its own cars (not
vans) and the two of them will split profits at the end.
Greenwheels will get 25% and Roteb Lease 75% of
the profits from the rides. Both companies will
contribute to the creation of a mobility software that
combines sharing & pooling. Additionally, the ride
PROs
-Get full rewards without having to rely on
MAAS partners
-Be the first company to deliver sharing &
pooling together
-Pooling offers the cheapest prices for
consumers, making it more attractive
-If the cars will be electric, then the costs
can be even cheaper
-Improve the image of Gemeente
Rotterdam (as stakeholder and investor)
PROs
-Good market entry with established user base
-Get most part of the revenue
-In-house car maintenance
-Relies on existing MAAS and helps Greenwheels grow its
service offerings to gain market share and benefit together
-Both parties contribute to software development
CONs
- Difficult to establish a new brand and win
customers on a competitive market
- High initial investment to buy cars
- Transformational innovation which is risky
- Needs partners to develop car sharing
app
- Doesn’t rely on existing MAAS
infrastructure
- Direct competition with Greenwheels,
which is also governmental company
CONs
-Car might stay unused on
the street and business
model might be risky => find
what to do with the cars;
maybe rent them to existing
clients?
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2. IDEATION

Idea 4 – Van sharing after-hours

Based on the contra argument from the previous idea that the cars might PROs CONs
stay unused, I thought of coming up with a service that rents out the vans
that Roteb Lease leases to their clients when not used, such as after 6pm -Use vans as much as -Renters need to bring the van back to
when the work day is finished, and in the weekends. The target market is possible, earning an where they got it from, in order to be used
people who need moving services, like when moving into a new house, extra source of revenue, the next day for its main purpose
making the company direct competitor with Bo-Rent, for example. both for Roteb Lease
and for its clients who
-Does not reduce traffic congestion
Note: Until now, all the four ideas were derived from the first concept of lease out from them -Does not help commuters go to work
combining ride pooling with ride sharing, except the last one, which
seemed that I have gotten too far away from the goal of the solution. I let -Hard to offer competitive prices to Bo-
myself carried out of possible opportunities, which each comes with but Rent and other specialized companies
is important to keep always in mind the goal and the design criteria set in -Usually the vans are equipped with tools
the beginning. By looking at the pros and cons, Idea 3 seems to be the and cannot be emptied/rented
winner for now.

At this point of ideation, I got stuck and did not have any idea on how to continue. That is why I decided to analyse some more MAAS companies to
see what they offer, hoping that I could use some elements from their business to improve my concept. I have attached in the Appendix the complete
details of each service that I analysed, but here I will only draw up a conclusion of what I found. This time I had payed importance to the price of their
service, as well as characteristics.

Buurato & Greenwheels

To start with, Buurauto, which was mentioned earlier in the table with analysed companies, works on subscription based, with prices of 0.5 euro per
km and 0.6 euro electricity cost per km. Looking at their packages, users get 200 km (plus 100 km free electricity) with 145 euro per month, or 800
km (and 400 km free electricity) for 365 euro per month. The free electricity is only for the first three months. With electricity costs, the service costs
around 0.6 euro per km in the first three months, and 0.8 euro per km as the usual service. The plus of this service is that the vehicles are electric and
communities are formed in neighbourhoods, having two or three families together for one car.
Greenwheels is special because it can be booked with the OV chipkaart. The price per month for 300 km is 240 euro, which is 0.8 euro per km,
including fuel. The disadvantage here is that the cars are not the best in terms of comfort and they work on fuel, not on electricity.
The conclusion until now is that Buurauto and Greenwheels are most efficient to use on a monthly basis, acting as a possible replacement for a
private vehicle. The winner here is Buurauto because the cars are better and they work fully electric, for the same price as Greenwheels. The
advantage of Greenwheels is the OV chipkaart, but it is not a strong advantage since any other service uses a mobile app to open the car, which is
still very convenient. Both services require a deposit of 225-300 euro and registration costs of 25 euro.

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2. IDEATION

Witkar, Sixt, Mistergreen

These three services are traditional rent-a-car solutions, where people pick up the vehicle and leave it at the same place after a period. The payment
is done per day, subscriptions not being possible. Sixt costs 58 euro per day for a very nice car, BMW 1 series, with 600 km include. Witkar costs 54
euro per day with only 150 km fuel included. These services are not included in the mobility-as-a-service, because the vehicles cannot be opened
only with a mobile app, and therefore a contract at the company needs to be signed before the rental begins. They are slightly cheaper than Ioniq
and Car2go, but do not offer flexibility, neither free parking. Renting from them is especially for holidays or leisure purposes. The deposit starts from
100 euros, depending on the car. Mistergreen does not show the prices on their website and are quite special because they are leasing luxury
electric cars for private use, which most of the time means leisure.
Viavan & Toogethr
ViaVan is the first carpooling service for travelling within the city. It is a Mercedes-Benz company with services also in London. Their promotional
prices were 3 euro everywhere inside the city ring of Amsterdam, which is around 6km in length. This means it costs 0.5 euro per km. The vans are
not electric, but do bring people together, which reduces traffic congestion. Here, the users are only passengers, therefore do not need to stress
about driving. Another carpooling service is Toogethr, which I have already presented once that acts only as intermediary between colleagues that
live and work in similar locations. Here, the driver is usually riding in his own car, taking two or three other colleagues with him to work. The idea is
that every day there is a new person driving his colleagues to work and home in his own car. In conclusion, there is only one carpooling service
available (ViaVan), and that is only within the city of Amsterdam. This means that there is no company specialized on transporting people from the
surroundings of a city to the city centre, or to any business area. This makes Commut-E differentiate from the rest of the market and come up with an
added-value proposition. The entire analysis of the market made it more clear what the price of the service of the indirect competition is. The costs of
all the services mentioned above is in between 0.35 and 0.5 euro. I wanted to see if a business case where we charge 0.3 euro would make sense,
which is cheaper than anything already is existing. The calculations can be found in the Financial Analysis Appendix from the Solution document,
which resulted in an attractive business case.
Idea 5 – Refurbish existing vans with all necessary working conditions
This idea came after looking at what ViaVan offers, which is successful in PROs CONs
London and now expanded to Amsterdam. The only thing that is similar is - Working conditions - Refurbishing costs
the carpooling concept, and besides that, everything is different. The
existing diesel vans will be refurbished in order to meet travellers’ - Carpooling is a tested concept - Carpooling not tested outside
expectations of working while travelling. These characteristics have been of Amsterdam for trips between
- Relatively new market and cities
found during my primary research and include charging sockets, reliable opportunity to capitalize
Wi-Fi and tables for the laptop, amongst others such as to have a quiet - Needs a driver
space, to be able to read and write, or just to be able to sleep. After four - Reduces traffic jams
years, Roteb Lease usually sells their cars, but now they could start this - After 4 years, the vans might
- Prepare for autonomous not be in the best condition and
business with them. The only thing to do is develop a carpooling app and vehicle market when carpooling will start depreciating rapidly
refurbish the vans. There will be a dedicated driver for each van. The target will become more common and
group is commuters who live no further than 60km from the city centre of more profitable for businesses - High fuel costs is vans run on
Rotterdam (as it was founded in the solution presentation scenario). diesel 6
2. IDEATION

Idea 6 – Partnership with ViaVan

Every time I come up with a new idea, I try to keep the PROs and reduce the number PROs CONs
of CONS by transforming challenges into opportunities. Therefore, I am looking at a
way to have minimum investment and maximum outcome. A partnership with ViaVan
- Not having to buy cars - Smaller share of revenue
would be valuable in the sense that Roteb Lease would offer their services to refurbish - Easiest and cheapest to - ViaVan is created by
their vans and get a share out of it. On top of that, Roteb Lease would offer implement until all of the Mercedes-Benz, so not sure
maintenance included. solutions until now why they would collaborate
Note: Further directions to look in: Because I try to look at the most efficient way of with Roteb Lease and not
- Cheaper than electric do it themselves
utilizing existing resources, I decided to think of solutions targeted at existing clients vehicles
of Roteb Lease, since they have so many cars already given into use, both vans and - Still runs on diesel
normal cars. In other words, find out how the employees of the clients of Roteb Lease
travel to/from work and if they would be interested in such an idea.

Idea 7 – Electric Carpooling service to employees of Roteb Lease’s PROs CONs

clients
The easiest way to test and have early adopters of an innovation is
contacting an already existing network. This idea is more of an addition to
Idea 5, with the only difference that the target group is better defined,
which makes it easier to relate to the users. On top of that, I consulted my
client after this idea to find his opinion and he said that the vans would
definitely need to be electric.
-Easy to get in touch with existing - Develop the carpooling
network and test the idea with users app/software
-People can work while travelling - Have to buy electric vans,
-Owning the complete revenue which are more expensive
stream
-Less traffic jams

Idea 8 – Partnership with Snappcar / MyWheels PROs CONs

Assuming that more people will choose to leave their cars home and travel *In addition to Idea 7: -People might be reluctant to share
by Commut-E, this means that these people will have unused vehicles their car to strangers
-U s e r s w i l l b e m o r e
staying in their garage. By developing a partnership with Snappcar or attracted to leave their cars -Renters of the cars would need to
MyWheels, which are basically offering the same platform service, people home, acting as a passive pick up the car with the key from a
that leave their car at home could choose to update automatically their income person in most of the cases, which
status on these platforms when a ride with Commut-E is booked, giving needs first an appointment and
their car to rent to anyone who needs it. There will be rewards for renting -The earned credits could decreases flexibility
the car in off-peak hours in order to avoid traffic congestion. Besides be used to buy something
receiving money, people who leave their cars home will receive credits at partner’s stores -Driving a car contributes to its
which can be spent at partners’ stores, such as Albert Heijn, NS, Fashion depreciation, so the cost of renting
brands, Tui, Lotterij, donations, etc should include that
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2. IDEATION

Idea 9 – Commut-E will ALSO function as carpooling service within the

city PROs CONs
This idea is made mostly on top of Idea 7 – the electric carpooling service -Vans will be used at full - The wages for the drivers will also
with working conditions - but what made me think of it is Idea 8, related to capacity, which means increase because they spend more hours
how unused vehicles can be turned into profitable assets. The same more chances to get a on the road
question I ask myself for Commut-E, so I came up with an answer. Commut- faster ROI
- The more a car is used, the faster its
E will work as a normal ride pooling service within the city of Rotterdam (for reselling price is dropping
the start). This means that from 10am to 5pm and from 7pm to 12am,
Commut-E will have the opportunity to have more rides and earn more - Still high price of purchasing electric
revenue. vehicles

Idea 10 – Leasing Electric vans for carpooling service offered to PROs CONs
corporates in peak times and consumers in off-peak times
- People can work while travelling -B2C usually requires
This idea comes by trying to diversify the areas of the business of Commut- - Transport is payed by the employer more marketing and
E in order to spread out risk and access the full potential of the resources. advertising costs
The base business will be offering the carpooling service to corporates as a
- Vans are used at their full capacity
monthly subscription for their employees. Many companies reimburse - Diversified portfolio ensures a sustainable -Electric vehicles are
travelling by train and even by car. Commut-E will become the service that development of the company more expensive, but
corporates will pay for their employees at a competitive price, coming with - Commut-E owns all the revenue the leasing will help
extra benefits to improve productivity during travelling. This will be the and is a good
- Contracts with corporates offer safety and investment for the
‘safe’ business, as there will be a monthly subscription. The more ‘risky’ and scaling, while B2C offers higher profit
profitable business, but which varies more than the ‘safe’ one will be ride future
- Leasing rather than buying the vans is much
pooling within the city. The cost of a ride will be more expensive because more affordable and can be done without
of the high quality seats and overall experience that Commut-E is offering, partners
but at the same time competitive with Uber. The higher costs for the off-
peak hours comes from the wages of the drivers, but the service is also
- Less traffic jams
more expensive, so it will still be profitable. - Electric vehicles, friendly to the environment
Conclusion of ideation process
In conclusion, the ideation process resulted in 10 different ideas, which are more or less iterated from one another and inspired from performing a
benchmark analysis, internal company analysis and primary research results. The ideas came out as result of an adaptation of the SCAMPER
technique, used to see the service and product from different perspectives. I used the perspective of the end-user, of the client and of the business
customers together. I came up with the ideas based on existing products (which were previously analysed in this document), trying to substitute,
combine, adapt, modify, eliminate and reverse their characteristics in such ways that it would bring more value from one iteration to another. When I
was stuck in creating new ideas, I researched MAAS companies outside of the Netherlands, from countries such as China, India and the United States,
to see what their unique selling proposition is. The next step is to select the best idea, which is presented below.

8
3. SELECTION/CONVERGING

After coming up with many ideas, I had to decide which one is the most suitable. I based my decision on the ability of the solution to solve the
problem of traffic congestion cause by people who drive their car alone from a city to another for work, as well as considering the solution fit to Roteb
Lease’s capabilities and goals. I made up a grading system in which I checked if the ideas meet certain requirements that have been collected from
the primary research, as well as client briefing. The grades are from - 2 (worst), +1 (medium) and + 2 (excellent), and the solution with most points
wins. This method is used by students at TU Delft to help in their decision making process.

As the image from above shows, the best idea is number 10. It was expected to have the last one as the winner, because most of the ideas came after
a series of iterations and improvements where I tried to keep the PROs and reduce the CONs.

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3. SELECTION/CONVERGING

Business case

The next step was to present the idea to my client and has his opinion, but before I could do this, I created a financial analysis of the idea to see if
there is a profitable business plan. (See Appendix 1 in the Solution Document) I firstly analyzed the start-up costs, and based on that I figured out the
loan amount from the bank. This loan amount I split in monthly payments for a period of three year and added into the profit and loss forecast,
together with other costs. The profit and loss statement also has been through a series of iterations. I did not know when is the right time to invest in
expension of new vans, so by looking at the saving accumulated over time I could figure out when the company has enough to make a new
investment. I decided to make a three year planning because the bank loan at that time will have been payed. After I completed the financial analysis,
I presented it to my client and got some feedback; the start-up costs needed to be considered again, as there were some missing resources such as
4G Telecom subscribtion and higher costs for refurbishing services. Moving on the the profit and loss forecast, my client told me that during summer
months and the month of December there will be less people who go to work because of the holiday season. As a result, I adjusted the number of

4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

In this stage, I will show how I got to the final prototype.

I have started with a mood-board of how I see the
interior of the van, continued with a mind-map of what
it means to travel by car, and combined I created a 3D
prototype, which can be experienced from a 360
degrees perspective, leaving room for feedback from
users.

4 . 1 3 D M O D E L O F C O M M U T- E
A. Mind-map

The mind-map is a tool that I used to help me get a

clear picture of what are different elements that are
encountered during travelling by car.

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4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

B. Mood-board

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4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

C. First prototype
This is the first prototype made using Rhino and Keyshot software. It came
from the inspiration I got from the mind-map and images of already existing
similar products. This prototype can be viewed using the Google
Cardboard VR Glasses and can be opened in PDF format to offer a 360
degrees view with the help an extension.

D. Iteration 1 - Interview with the target group for the features of the
service
Methodology
In order to create and test the first prototype of the concept, I started with
asking the target group about what functionalities they want the service to
have. My target group are people that commute to work on a distance
between 30 and 60 km, as that was the distance between the commuting
zones around Rotterdam and the city centre, where most of the offices are. I
was able to find people that fit in the target group by reaching out to
people I knew from my previous work place, who also answered my online
survey from the primary research I have carried out. Three of them drove by
car to work, while other three went by public transport.
Results
First thing I have done was to call them and explain the concept of
Commut-E, asking them to imagine travelling in a van with 3 other
passengers, with comfortable seats as airplanes have in business-class, and
the possibility of having a table to put their laptop on, free Wi-Fi and
electricity socket for charging the laptop. In order to make the experience
more real, I sent them a 3D model of an initial concept of the van,
which could be opened as a PDF (together with the pictures attached in
this document in case the file could not be opened).
The next step was to ask them to imagine they would start working and to
tell me every step they do. This made them find out new things they would
want to do, such as having a place to put their luggage, listening to music,
drinking coffee and having a USB port for charging their phones.

12
4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

After that, I asked them how they see themselves standing on the seat. Some of
them responded they see themselves laying on the back of the seat, with their feet
up and with their laptop close to them. Others responded they prefer working on
their computer in a firm position, with the back of the chair at almost 90 degrees. All
of them said they would like to have the option to adjust the seats electronically.
Continuing on, I asked them how far they see themselves from the person next to
them. All replied that they would like to be at a distance from each other and would
be nice not to be able to look into each other’s laptops. The last step was to ask
them think about their way back home from work. Two people expressed their wish
to be able to take a nap while travelling, while the rest of them said they would like
to finish some work, read a book or just relax. When asked about other facilities they
would like to have on their way back from work, a person said they would like to
have soundproof headphones for music and a sleeping mask.
At the end of the phone call, I sent them an email with a link to the animation of the
comparison between travelling scenarios of private car, public transport and
Commut-E. After that, I asked them to give a rating for the overall experience,
consisting of the 3D prototype and video animation. They had to choose from
excellent, good, average, poor and very poor. Most of the people answered it felt Design criteria for the features of the service
like an average look and feel, followed by good and only one rated it as excellent.
As related by the users during the interview, the following
E. Iteration 2 - Preferences of the target group for the interior design of the van features should be available during the journey:
Methodology •Seats that can be adjusted in different positions
The next step after setting the requirements for the features available during the electronically
journey is to set up the look and feel of the interior of the van. For this experiment, I •Seats that have an extension for keeping people’s legs up
have chosen to do an online survey presenting three moodboards of different
colour and material combinations. The reason to go for an online survey was that I •USB port
was able to reach more people and target specifically working professionals in •Coffee
business centres by asking someone from my previous internship to post the survey
on their internal messaging group of nearly 120 people. Within this group, I •Place for luggage
gathered responses also from the six people who I got the chance to interview by •Adjustable laptop table
phone in first test of the features. Besides this, I shared the survey with my client and
•Distance between the seats
one other colleague of his involved in this project. I did not want to share the survey
with the entire Rotten Lease company, as those people do not work in a business •Privacy from other passengers
area and I wanted to have answers from people that fit partially the target group. •Soundproof headphones
Below are the different moodboards people had to choose from. At the beginning
of the survey, it was mentioned that the designs are going to be used in developing •Sleeping mask
the interior of a vehicle. •Lightning for reading 13
4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

14
4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

Results
The online survey gathered 51 answers from people that commute
to work. It did not matter if they travelled by car, public transport or
bike because I was interested to know the general quantitative
preferences of people in regards to different designs. The winning
design is, ‘sport black’, which is going to be used in the
development of the final 3D prototype.

F. Presenting the final prototype of the van after two iterations

Based on the feedback received from the target group (possible
end-users) on the functionality/features of the van and the look and
feel of the interior design, this is the final prototype. There will be
presented in the evaluation section, which requirements could be
met and which couldn’t, giving explanations

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4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

16
4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

G. Feedback from client and stakeholders

I have presented the final prototype to my client, Willem from Roteb Lease, during an online presentation. He was pleased with the way it looks and
only had some questions regarding the way the electricity socket will be built from an engineering perspective. Besides that he confirmed that all
these modifications to a normal van are possible, which means that the solution is feasible and viable by the client.
Another feedback that I got was from Maarten, an employee of EMS who is always travelling business class by train only to be able to work on his way
to the office. He was very happy to find that all the features he would like to have were present, even more about the fact that the chairs have
extension pillow for legs. At the end of the interview, I asked if he wants to join a beta testing when the service will be available and he agreed by
asking to contact him then.
In order to have a diverse range of opinions, I contacted Adriana Dinca (expert on mobility for Amsterdam Smart City). I sent her an email with the
same presentation containing the animation and pictures of the final 3D model. She said that it is important for people to know they will make with
20 minutes more to work from the time of booking and be careful not to have delays. She liked that the vans were fully electric and that I have used
the carpooling model for a niche target group, such as employees of corporates in business centres.

4.2 MOBILE APPLICATION A. Inspiration

In order to offer a full experience of Commut-E to the

stakeholders, I designed an app mock-up. In order to test
the app, I have used InVision app to make the mock-up
‘come to life’, meaning that anyone could use the app as if it
was for real, with working buttons. InVision let me send a link
of the app to the user’s phones, and from then I conducted a
‘thinking aloud test’ to receive their feedback.

B. Prototype
The first prototype consisted of eight different screens that
guided the user from booking to completing the journey.
The entire app can be found in the Appendix. I will add in
this section only the screens that received an improvement
based on user’s feedback in order to save space. For the
testing, I used three people; one UI/UX design student and
two app developers. The app feedback was received only
from experts and not from the client because he does not
have any experience in app design and let other
professionals to take care of it, agreeing to the final version
when the prototype it was presented as a video animation.
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4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

C. Iteration I
The users were asked to go through the app and
complete booking a ride and see the summary of
the journey. All of them succeeded to book the
ride, but could not advance further than that.
Because there was no other button than ‘cancel
ride’ after the user checks in with the QR code in
the vehicle. As a reason, all three users asked for a
continuation button to a page where they could
see a live view of their journey. The images below
start with the first one showing where the user app
experience would have ended, and the next three
pictures are the additions, which respond to user’s
feedback – continuation button and live map. The
last image is an additional screen that is a more
natural continuation of the journey, allowing the
user to tap on a button to go to the summary of the
journey.
D. Iteration II
E. Final prototype
The same three users were shown the screen that
missed from their experience because they were The images on the next page show the
unable to move further then the QR code check-in remaining screens which have not
page. They were asked to give feedback on the been presented until now. There are
relevancy of the information displayed and if they two more other screens with the
wanted to see other details about their journey. feedback page. The entire final
Two of them said it would be nice to see how much prototype can be seen in Appendix 1
CO2 they saved by using an electric vehicle in from the Solution document and by
comparison to a normal car, another said it would accessing this link for a video
like to see how many hours they had spent animation: https://youtu.be/
travelling and the last one wanted to see if they R5o0I15jjoI
arrived always on time. Below there are the two
versions, the first one is on the left and the final one
is on the right.

18
4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

E. Final prototype

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4. DEVELOPING & PROTOTYPING

4.3 ANIMATION

20
 5. EVALUATION CRITERIA

a. Criteria check from prototype interview
Below is a list of all the features that users wanted to have after they have
been interviewed on the first prototype of the van. Some of them could
not be designed in 3D; therefore, they will be remembered for further
development and discussion with the client if there can be made some
sort of extra profit by offering passengers additional services. The only
thing I could not figure out a solution for was a way to enable privacy
between passengers. In order to test if this is necessary, some tests in the
real van need to be taken to see if people feel the need of an added
layer of privacy.
Seats that can be adjusted in different positions electronically
Seats that have an extension for keeping people’s legs up
USB port
/ Coffee
Place for luggage
Adjustable laptop table
Distance between the seats
X Privacy from other passengers
/ Soundproof headphones
/ Sleeping mask
Lightning for reading
b. Criteria check from client (Roteb Lease)
Uses electric vehicles
Adds value to the community
Contributes to a cleaner city
Attractive business case
Low investment
c. Criteria check from stakeholders (corporate customers, EMS)
I had tested this concept with the same corporate I did the online survey
for the interior design of the van. The company was the best choice
because they fit the requirements in terms of location (business centre)
and large number of employees who are reimbursed for travelling by car
from other cities than Amsterdam. The requirements might be different
from a company to another, but the answers can be applied to any other
corporate in the same situation as they are, in Rotterdam as well.
Should be always on time, reliable
Increases productivity of employees
Is available on demand
The vehicles can be branded
d. Criteria check from primary research
Most of the criteria was checked with the solution. This means that the
solution brings the value that the users expect, meaning it is the right
product-market fit. The only criteria that was not meet is having the
service faster than public transport. At the same time, people that wanted
to work during their journey declared in my primary research to be ok
with spending 30 minutes more in case they have the proper working
conditions. Therefore, the solution is still viable. Another thing was to
have the service cheaper than the own car. In order to have the business
case attractive, the cost of the service is 2 euro more expensive. Adding
the benefits of working and quality conditions of the interior of the van,
the 2 euros are justifiable, being cheaper than any other mobility-as-a-
service solution.
/ Faster than public transport
/ Cheaper than own car
Should be always on time, reliable
Should not exceed 30 minutes more than private car
Focus on an existing MAAS solution
Employers to subsidize travelling
Rewards people for travelling in off-peak times
Comfort, flexibility and speed
Chance to work on their laptop while travelling
Quiet, clean environment
Fits more than two people and up to six people
Brings together people travelling on the same route
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6. IMPLEMENTATION

The next step after validating the solution with all stakeholders was to come up with an implementation plan. I wanted to base the plan on solid
theories and strategies that were tested and proven to have worked. Therefore, I started to read many research papers and write down some of them
in the first part of the implementation document, called ‘theoretical framework’. This helped me to come up with a structured way of thinking about of
all of the elements required in an implementation plan of a growth strategy. I found out new things about how to implement my type of innovation by
looking at the actual a process. First, I analysed the resources and capabilities of the client company. Secondly, I analysed the innovative solution in
terms of strengths and weaknesses with impact on the internal business, rather than impact on the exterior. The reason I did so was because I wanted
base the growth strategy on the key elements of the business; coming up with a plan on how to capitalize on strengths, and at the same time how to
overcome threats. I observed that the same things were also strengths and weaknesses, which at first it seemed a bit weird, but then I understood that
every positive part in a business comes with a negative one as well. The answers received from performing this analysis will be later implemented in
the growth strategy, as they are actions, which needed to be kept into account, offering a broader perspective on the strengths and threats of the
business.
Moving on, I consider that a strategy can be implemented successfully only if everyone from the team knows the company with the same eyes. In
other words, to know the company’s mission, vision, culture and values. Therefore, I described the business in these terms so that everyone has a clear
vision of what they take part in and create a culture of collaboration and innovation. Now that this was clear, the elaboration of the strategy could
begin. Relating the definition of Ansoff & McDonnell (1990), a business strategy is a set of rules for developing the business’ relationship with its
external environment by deciding what products to sell, where to sell them and to whom. If the strategy is good, the result should be a
competitive advantage. My next step was to look on how to make the strategy as easily understandable to everyone. Therefore, I did a strategy map
from a method called ‘balanced scorecard’, on four levels, all interrelated to each other; financial, customer, internal processes and organizational
capacity. I set up goals for each of them and figured out how other levels have impact on each other. Moving on, I created tables to make the KPIs
more specific, setting up measures, targets and initiatives for each of the four levels. Having the clear KPIs and seeing how each level communicates
with each other helps the team understand how their work affects other’s people or department’s work as well, but at the same time they can see how
valuable the work they are doing is. For the following step of the balanced scorecard, there is an organization change agenda. This is where the value
that the company wants to create aligns with the culture and strategy. It is more a set of rules for how the business works internally and with clients.
Last but not least, the organization capital of any company consists of four elements that are interconnected to each other, such as culture, leadership,
alignment and teamwork. This is again a way of looking at the business and it helps to see all the different elements and be aware, from a
management, but also employee level, that all of them need to be aligned in order to run a successful projects.
Following, I did an implementation timeline where I described some actions which already took place – such as my work until now with these reports
- , and actions that need to be done further with the client company. Because this is only an implementation plan, I did not write specific dates for what
actions are going to follow the official launch of the project in September. One thing is for sure, that there will always be someone looking for new
clients for development.
In order to keep track of progress and check the performance of individuals and teams in the company, I created an implementation KPI template
divided into four sections that represent a business; time, budget, quality and effectiveness. The purpose of this template is to monitor activities and
based on the results to have feedback sessions and see what can be done in the future to improve them. I did not complete the KPIs for now because
they need to be thought together with the client and it would be even more valuable after the team is already set up in place. Moreover, it is difficult to
set up target scores before even completing an assignment to see what a reasonable amount of time and budget required is.

22
6. IMPLEMENTATION

Another important thing to know for implementation is how much it will cost to set up the business. Therefore, I made up a set-up costs table, which
was presented in the solution document as well. Those are the costs required to run the business for the first six months. After six months, the
company will afford to pay wages without borrowing money.
In continuation, I wanted to talk about political and diplomatic sensitivities for implementation. I wrote down some possible situations and reasons
why stakeholders could have different views on certain things, but what I wanted to point out was that communication should be open but friendly.
For a sustainable collaboration, each member needs to take into consideration each other’s point of view, thinking about it and then trying to look for
a middle way to satisfy all parties involved.
To conclude, the implementation plan consists of analysing the current capabilities and resources of the company, then analysing the innovative
solution in terms of resources needed and impact wanted to create, and finally ending up with a strategy on how to use the existing resources in the
best way to develop something new that will deliver more profit and benefits.

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7. REFLECTION

META SKILLS
The innovation thesis was the largest and most complex project I did during my four years of IBIS. I am saying this because I had to apply all the
learnings that I had acquired over the years, which are simply described as META sills – define, design, execute, lead, learn. I have started with finding
a client and defining their problem during a briefing session. After that meeting, my client gave me a list with almost 10 problems and I had to
choose one worth solving that will bring them the most impact. Therefore, I conducted an in-depth market research to look for trends and
developments in the industry of my client and related industries. This was the process of validating the problem, which was the first phase of the
thesis.
The second phase of the thesis consisted of doing literature review on the problem I was going to tackle to get inspired and see what other similar
solutions already exist. This first step was the base of what was going to follow next – designing and executing a survey. I designed two online
surveys to collect insights on my target group’s preferences regarding transportation. These answers would help me in the next stage to come up with
a design criteria of the innovative solution.
The third phase was coming up with an innovative solution. I had to take into consideration the design criteria created in the previous phase, as well
as my client’s preferences in terms of budget and capabilities for implementation. Moreover, it had to be a market-fit, something that people really
needed and wanted to use. Therefore, I created and executed an implementation plan where I started with iteration, concept validation, prototyping,
testing and financial analysis. By doing the business case I realized that having an idea is not enough and it needs to be supported by strong financial
evidence that makes it worth for implementation. After having figure it out, I presented the business to my client and asked feedback from direct and
indirect stakeholders on it. In order to come up with a prototype, I worked together with a designer, leading the project in terms of communicating
requirements for the mobile app and the 3D model of the van. Other leading activities that I had were leading the research, the primary survey with
end users and stakeholders, as well as managing my deadlines and acting conform my plan. Last but not least, the entire process was a learning
experience – always trying out new things and discovering what works and what does not. I set deadlines for myself and I analyzed how my progress
went. Most importantly, I gained confidence that if I will follow from now on this process I will be able to come up anytime with an innovation that fits
my client’s needs and brings something valuable to the market.
FUTURE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
The innovation thesis was a real-life case project in which I had to find my own client and work for him from a role of innovation consultant. I did
everything from having meetings with my clients, to interviewing the target market, stakeholders, experts and professionals from different fields of
work. During these six months, I confronted myself with situations of uncertainty and doubt if I was on the right path in coming up with an innovation,
but I trusted that the process will get me there. Therefore, I see the importance of having a structured plan, stick to deadlines and while being
pressured by time, still deliver qualitative results. I have an analytical thinking driven by curiosity, characteristics that make me good at finding
opportunities where others would not. More than that, by doing interviews I discovered that I am able to capture information and understand it easily,
which helps me build upon that in expressing my thoughts and communicating clearly. What also makes me different is that I can think of creative
solutions while taking into considerations all the implications involved, analysing risks and managing a financial strategy for development used in the
implementation stage. So more than coming up with ideas, I can help my client with clear steps for implementation, which makes it very easy to work
with me. Last but not least, I am interested in sustainability and social entrepreneurship, so I will always try to add a societal benefit through my work.

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7. REFLECTION

In conclusion, some possible work roles that I would enjoy and fit my skills and capabilities would be in consultancy, with a focus on innovation. That
means a job where I need to spot opportunities, understand the client and build products and services that meet the stakeholder’s expectations. I
could have a role in a company as a Junior Innovation Agent for a creative company in the fields of advertising, marketing or design. Another similar
job role would be as Product/Service Manager, as I like listening to users and identifying their needs, knowing what needs to be done to create a
product or service that people like to use. I would be also appropriate for work in a social oriented company, since I am passionate about
humanitarian causes and I want to have a positive influence on the environment around me.
Next to the Innovator role, I can work as a Project Manager, since I am able to organize tasks and make sure to get things done. What is also
appropriate would be a position as Business Strategist, since I like planning things and thinking of ways to grow a business. Another option would be
to become an independent innovation consultant to do work similar to my thesis project, or even lead design sprint workshops for concept creation
and creativity. The jobs that are not for me are those where I do not have the chance to contribute with my creativity.

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APPENDIX
1. Moodboard

26
APPENDIX
2. Additional pictures of 3D model prototype

27
APPENDIX
3. Mobile application prototype

28
APPENDIX
3. Mobile application prototype

29
APPENDIX
3. Mobile application prototype

30