Caterpillar Digital Strategy
Customer-First Digital Design

The Caterpillar “Fabric” digital strategy project envisioned and crafted a unified, end-to-end customer experience to transform Caterpillar into a truly customer-first organization.

Related Services
Purposeful Strategy Work, Interaction Design, Visual Interface Design

Role
Interaction Design Director, Client Relationship Lead

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Becoming a Human-Centered, Customer-Led Organization

Caterpillar has a long-standing legacy of building powerful, reliable machines that serve industries worldwide. This project aimed to build upon that legacy, not just by enhancing the machines themselves, but by transforming the organizational mindset to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences throughout every interaction with the brand.

Fabric, a cohesive digital ecosystem designed to unify and elevate all customer touchpoints across Caterpillar’s portfolio, is at the heart of this initiative. Fabric isn’t just a platform—it’s a strategy that weaves the entire Caterpillar experience together, ensuring consistency, personalization, and value at every stage of the customer journey.

 
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The Fabric digital strategy was designed to more closely connect Caterpillar to its customers.

Meeting a Range of User Needs

To bring this vision to life, we developed tailored digital experiences for a range of core customer personas, each representing a key segment of Caterpillar’s user base. These experiences are designed to meet each persona's unique needs while driving measurable benefits for both the customer and the Caterpillar brand. Below is a selection of these personas and the specific ways Fabric enhances their experiences.

Mateo: The Operator

Key moments for Mateo include setting up the perfect job, preparing for the job, and receiving seamless payment for services performed.

Value for Caterpillar: Once we connect operators to jobs, we’ll have visibility into patterns and trends in the construction market. We can also understand how machines are used to make product enhancements and deliver targeted training. Understanding financial transactions at the job site level gives us visibility into customers’ business operations.

Kate: The Foreman

Kate utilizes the Fabric digital service to put the right people on the job and track job site progress. Fabric rewards Kate with performance bonuses at specific milestones and empowers her to do the same for team members as they accomplish tasks. Overall, cash flow is also easily visible.

Value for Caterpillar: Once a line of sight into financial transactions is achieved, Caterpillar has real-time visibility into aggregate demand, enabling tracking of market shifts, prioritization of investment, and offering deals, financing, and investment to help customers reach their full potential.

Rod: The Fleet Manager

Rod uses the service to tell him what is most important. It helps him take effective action and gives him choices in managing his fleet. Finally, Fabric provides progress updates regarding fleet operations and service.

Value for Caterpillar: Once Caterpillar understands what Rod values and how he thinks about the trade-offs, the company can start to offer more personalized solutions. Knowing what Fleet Managers value, Caterpillar can have more meaningful conversations that address larger business priorities.

 

Bo: The Technician

Fabric helps Bo prepare for a given job. It streamlines communication and handles transactions, making things like task approvals seamless.

Value for Caterpillar: Once Caterpillar has both the machine and the employer’s evaluation of a technician, service and training guidance can begin. Having a line of sight into service transactions allows a better understanding of which parts have the highest demand, which can optimize our production and improve our supply chain.

 

Tommy: Dealer Salesman

Tommy’s relationship with customers grows richer through the use of Fabric. The service advises him on whom to reach out to, how to approach them, and what to recommend regarding Caterpillar products and services.

Value for Caterpillar: By empowering dealers and enabling more meaningful conversations, Caterpillar can strengthen its dealer distribution network. Caterpillar maintains the human touchpoint by facilitating these conversations while leveraging its best intelligence to personalize the deal.