Using Trello Like a Pro to Manage Startup Operations and Projects

At Enplug, we use Trello to keep track of new product orders from the moment the order is placed to the day it arrives at your doorstep. Our product is unique, therefore we need a unique tool to help us share our technology with customers worldwide. Trello is just the powerful yet simple tool to help us deliver our products faster and with better precision. Before we started using Trello to process new orders, our team tried using spreadsheets, email threads, and countless other organization tools. Each tool had their distinct benefit but not quite what we needed. We realized early on that in order to provide a high level of customer satisfaction and prepare for growth, we had to find a better solution– or build one on our own.

Just by switching to Trello alone, we’ve been able to streamline our deployment process and support a 4x production growth with little pain. As our scale continues to grow, we have found ways to seamlessly integrate Trello with other services to help further automate our processes.

Trello’s effectiveness has been most recently noted with our new product release of Enplug Plug n’ Play. We provide a unique solution that can convert any display into your live interactive “anything” (social media feed, menu board, weather feed, news feed, etc). Our innovative solution requires some level of customization per order. Trello’s true beauty has been in its ability to help us fulfill a quick order turnaround time. We ship new devices every Tuesday, so staying organized is important. Here is how Trello helps with our Enplug Plug n’ Play deployment. Before a device arrives at it’s destination, it is handled with TLC by at least four of our team members. Our “Plug ’n Play Fulfillment” board is organized into several lists, each representing a different stage in the order fulfillment process. When an order is placed, a new card is automatically created under the first list, “New Requests”. This is the beginning of an order’s journey. By the time a customer receives their device, this card will have traveled left to right across the entire board. I’ll give you a tour of what happens at each stage.

1. When a card (order) is created under “New Request”, our Sales Coordinator receives an email notification because she is subscribed to this list.
2. Our Sales Coordinator then creates the account and enters all of the necessary information into our system.
3. After the account is created, she moves the card to the next list, “Account Created”, which sends a notification to our Network Engineer who will be in charge of configuring the device. When this is done, he moves the card into the next stage, “Hardware Package Created.”
4. It’s my turn to take over. At this point, I have all the information I need to send a welcome email to the client with shipping information and tips for getting started. I also create a packing slip online with FedEx and prepare the package for pickup.
5. Every Tuesday, FedEx visits the office to pick up our outgoing packages. We move the picked up orders to the next stage and track the packages online to make sure they’ve delivered on time.
6. Once an order is delivered, it is moved to “Delivered”, and the client is ready to start using Enplug!

Trello has simplified this Enplug Plug n’ Play and all other deployments. Most importantly, the mere presence of Trello allows our talented engineering team to focus completely on continuing to build out and enhance our core product. This is priceless. Now thanks to Trello’s visual of our process, the next version of Enplug Plug n’ Play will streamline steps #2 and #3 further. Stay tuned! That’s how we use Trello to deliver our pride and joy, Enplug Plug n’ Play, from Los Angeles to the rest of the world. With the help of Trello and the magic of teamwork, we’re able to deliver new orders in a matter of days. To get Enplug or try a free demo, head over to Enplug Digital Signage. *** Enplug digital signage software was co-founded by CEO Nanxi Liu and CTO Tina Denuit-Wojcik in 2012 to enable organizations to use customized real-time streaming content to create engaging external and internal communications.