Transforming customer experience solutions for 3.5x growth in new P2P opportunities

The client

Pipefy is a workflow and business process management (BPM) platform that automates workflows without programming and optimizes CRM, HR, Finance, Procurement, IT and customer experience solutions. Used in over 200 countries with its main market in Brazil, Pipefy is currently expanding with a focus on the U.S.

The challenge

A key opportunity for Pipefy lies in procure-to-pay (P2P), where businesses integrate purchasing and accounts payable systems to create more efficient processes. The P2P market is expected to grow by 7.6% by 2026 so in preparation for this, Pipefy is reorganizing its products, separating P2P from finance. To do so, the company needed to identify the ideal customer profile (ICP) and unique selling proposition (USP) for P2P. 

Pipefy engaged Thoughtworks’ guidance with experimentation and hypothesis validation, focusing on qualifying P2P top-of-funnel generation, discovering the best match between ICP and USP and scaling the experimentation approach to other verticals. 

The dynamic experimentation cycle 

Pipefy chose us as their strategic partner to create a culture of experimentation. To do so, we initiated the dynamic experimentation cycle (DEC) designed to continuously refine hypotheses through exploration, experimentation and learning feedback to identify which issues should be prioritized.

Using the DEC for business and cultural transformation 

Step 1: Hypothesis and success definition 

It was crucial to define the most significant issue impeding Pipefy’s success. To do so, we used a Jungle session to create a success matrix to score each hypothesis. Working with the data team, we identified the success metric as an increase in monthly procurement meetings through the outbound channel from 11 to 50, as 70% of these meetings historically converted to new deals. 

Step 2: Diagnostics 

We conducted market analysis by observing 16 Pipefy competitors to evaluate their value proposition, business model and product performance. We learnt that Pipefy could position itself as a partner rather than just as a supplier, understanding the needs of each client and collaborating to build tailored solutions rather than offering off-the-shelf products. 

Step 3: Cross-matching opportunities 

Using the evidence gathered in step two, we rolled out a multi-channel cadence that ran for nine days. Comparing this cadence with the previous one, the results were significant: a 30% increase in the open rate and a 153% increase in the meeting schedule rate. We then surveyed 30 P2P professionals, measuring the potential value of each USP produced.

Step 4: Consolidation 

In the final step, we consolidated all the learnings and validations and calibrated the best combination of customer persona and selling proposition. The process revealed that Pipefy can transform the procurement department into a strategic part of its business.

Outcomes

Our process led to:

This cultural transformation set the foundation for further growth even after our collaboration with Pipefy. The platform now has a success metric that provides direction and serves as a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of its interventions. Pipefy also has greater clarity into target personas, their pain points, needs, and what they perceive as valuable. This allows for more assertive and scalable communication with customers, especially in new markets. 

Pipefy won the Agile Trends Agilidale Brasil Award, which recognizes organizational agility and consistent results, with the no code customer experience solution that was an industry-leading example of developing sophisticated solutions without complex coding.