Which? conducts tests on over 4,600 products every year, ranging from toothbrushes and washing machines to cars and compost. The testing lifecycle involves large amounts of complex data being generated by several sub-teams in order to purchase, test, analyse and then publish thousands of product reviews every year. It’s a time-consuming process that involved a lot of manually input and curated data.

Accuracy and independence is paramount for Which?, given the risk of commercial and reputational impact that an error can have. However, with thousands of spreadsheets of test data being created every year, error-checking has been a formidable task. Consequently, Which? found that staff were having to spend too much time on admin.

Therefore, Which? required a better way to centralise the information they generate, in a standardised, automated system to improve data quality, enhance visibility, and save employees’ time. This would aid Which?’s ability to continue to deliver valuable insights to consumers in a modern, sustainable way, at scale.

Which? set out to find a new approach by leveraging modern low-code/no-code technologies, ultimately selecting Telefónica Tech as their technology partner after viewing several demos and commissioning a Proof of Concept (POC).

• The Which? team is currently saving 150 hours per month on admin, freeing them up to spend more time on research
• Time-consuming manual errors have been reduced
• Increased automation has made for smoother workflows
• Established a central environment for visibility and collaboration
• Ability to output management information for performance reporting
• Continuing to safeguard the Which? reputation as the go-to advisor for fair, accurate consumer information

As put by Adrian Porter, Content Systems and Data Lead at Which?, “With the solution Telefónica Tech delivered, we are saving a decent amount of time – but with further internal development we hope to keep growing the amount of time being saved. We now have an innovative, centralised test management system where we can quickly get a clear and accurate view of where all our products are in the testing lifecycle, bringing a much improved transparency to the entire process. To be able to harness our data in an effective way is reducing errors and freeing up resource for us to focus on what we do best: delivering reliable and independent information to UK consumers.

“Choosing a low-code technology like Microsoft Power Platform will allow us to focus almost entirely on outcomes in the long-term. Naturally there is a learning curve as you’d expect with any new software, but as we continue to explore what Power Platform and Power Automate is capable of, we will continue to build out a sophisticated but easy-to-use solution. Telefónica Tech brought the skills, knowledge and passion to make this project a success at Which? and I really appreciate the time and effort that its excellent staff put in to help us start to understand the system and its potential.”