After seeing the success of the Credit Facility, the executive team at 1stMILE wanted to find a way to reach a larger audience and help make financing options for consumers easier and quicker to obtain. Since the 1stMILE application was a windows desktop middleware application, the only people capable of guiding the application process were the associates working at the shop that had 1stMILE installed on their computers. This ultimately lead to the idea of moving the Credit Facility to the web. With the Credit Facility on the web, applying for financing would be available to anyone who accesses the page, deploying new credit options be easier, and applying credit compliance updates would be more immediate.
I was ultimately tasked with figuring out how to move the Credit Facility to the web. From having no professional web develop experience, this task was initial exciting but also daunting. After doing some extensive research, I ended up choosing to primarily rely on React.js as the primary technology to drive this new application. The main reason for choosing React at the time is that it the underlying concept of building custom React components felt similar to how I implemented the UI of the Credit Facility through C# and WinForms. With this in mind, I felt that using React would provide the smoothest transition of the Credit Facility to the web. Like my work on the Credit Facility, I was also responsible for the overall architecture, initial UI layout, and application flow this new product.
Ultimately, the web Credit Facility later became branded as 1stMILE Text to Apply, in which users would text a phone number to get started. The product became targeted to mobile platforms since the 1stMILE team felt that the overall process felt the most natural and most fluid when everything was being done through the consumer's phone. Screenshots of the application can be seen the video below (note: the video also shows other similar products not directly a part of the Text to Apply. If you're interested in 1stMILE CAR, please see my other blog post)
Additionally, anyone is free to view the training system I created for Text to Apply. To get started, text the phrase "Training Apply" without the quotes to Go1ST (46178). This will send a text message containing a link to the training page that 1stMILE uses to help train store associates and other team members. Remember, this page is targeted for mobile, so it is expected that the training (as well as the actual product) are viewed on a mobile device.
Languages and Tools used:
JavaScript, React.js, Redux
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