Chat-meets-helpdesk connecting thousands of Grab drivers

One of the biggest challenges in the ride hailing space is that operators like Grab want to create their own vibrant online community, while still being able to turn chat messages into actionable issues. That gap in helpdesk management caused thousands of hours of wasted time for moderators, and countless uncaught pain points from drivers - and normal chat apps could not deliver a solution. That’s the problem we looked at solving when working with the innovative team at Grab. Grab is Southeast Asia’s largest tech startup, with a market capitalization of $10 billion as of 2022. When they needed to transform their internal communications, they tapped White Widget to create a new type of platform that would help them build camaraderie between their drivers while enabling their moderators to still manage their fleets.

iOS and Android App

Product DesignUX Research

Custom Development

Android Native AppiOS Native AppWeb Moderator BackofficeWeb Driver ChatProductivity Analytics

Cybersecurity

Infrastructure

DevOps

Years before Google Chat and Slack would make chat-to-task mainstream, we innovated this feature with Grab’s KGC, which stands for “Ka-Grab Community,” a standalone community chat platform on Android, iOS, and web. Featuring public chatrooms, private moderator messaging, and bulk importing of drivers, KGC allowed Grab to create fleet chatrooms where their drivers could attach photos, react to messages, hold meetings and get help with pressing issues. Moderators in Grab had access to a web platform where they could manage the chat rooms, and respond to drivers promptly at a level not possible before. As drivers would tend to report similar issues to Grab at the same time, feedback between Grab and its drivers would now become fast and more informal, instead of relying on public announcements and notifications. For more unique issues, drivers turned to 1-1 moderator chat to resolve their problems. The app also became a place for drivers shoot the breeze, and it quickly transformed into a private community center that drivers could safely share advice and feedback in.

Grab wanted to test holding a large-scale event meet and greet, inviting over a hundred thousand drivers to one chat room. White Widget had to fix and update the platform to scale that way while the event was going on, and got the scaling resolved in minutes. This would not have been possible with commercial chat solutions, and is a testament to the customer service we always seek to deliver.

Public Chat Rooms

Public chat rooms are great for drivers to share information quickly. They're also handy for getting in touch with Grab admin together. Plus, drivers can let others know about any road problems they spot.

Private Messages

Drivers can message Grab admin directly with their personal concerns and issues, and expect a quick response through private messaging. Their shared information is kept secure and confidential.

News Feed

Drivers are always updated with the latest perks and updates from Grab through their news feed.

Quizzes and Rankings

Quizzes and rewards are set up to entertain drivers and educate the drivers on how to use the driver app.