BlaBlaCar: successful adoption of Nocode solutions to accelerate time to market

The use of Nocode solutions to automate processes and develop applications is growing rapidly, and BlaBlaCar is one of the companies that have adopted this approach. 

We worked with BlaBlaCar on the redesign of their careers site, but before that, they had already made Nocode choices using Workato internally. 

We had the opportunity to talk with Jérémie Lebrun, Engineering Manager - Software Integration at BlaBlaCar, to learn more about their experience with Nocode.

The choice of automation at Blablacar

The Software Integration team at BlaBlaCar is integrated with the global Engineering team, which encompasses all of Tech. Their team leads projects and builds tools for BlaBlaCar employees, using external technology. They are a team of 10 people, mainly composed of project managers, product owners, and tool administrators.

When Jérémie Lebrun was asked what led them to turn to Nocode solutions, he explained the desire to accelerate the development of the employee experience and internal tooling, whereas the historical focus was very customer facing.

The company and its growing needs have made it necessary to automate internal processes to a greater extent.

The IT Ops team had already started using Python scripts to automate IT Ops processes, but this was becoming complicated to manage and maintain because these solutions were not mastered by everyone and it was also a problem when employees left the company. The team decided to explore Nocode solutions to automate internal processes. 

BlaBlaCar's experience with Workato

Workato was selected because its UX and interface, as well as its extensive connector library (more than 1,800), matched their stack and use cases. Workato was also the best fit in terms of billing model.

Jeremie emphasized that the teams' own ownership of Workato was crucial to its success. The Software Integration team owns the deployment of the tool and manages the governance internally. They have set up a "Factory" principle with several teams likely to develop use cases, and a transverse animation of the different Factories.

The rules for using Workato are defined by the Software Integration team, and the goal is for teams to take ownership and use it themselves. Currently, only three teams are using Workato, but the goal is for more and more teams to use it.

Jeremie also shared some use cases of Workato at BlaBlaCar: 

• Workato is used to connect the HRIS and synchronize the creation of accounts on all People tools, as well as for onboarding/offboarding employees. 
• Workato is also used to connect job postings on the Careers site to HRIS systems. 
• In the bus business, Workato is used to automate the sending of SMS messages to passengers in case of delays, based on a geolocation system.
• Workato also allows you to cancel travel bookings from within Slack, which is great for employees who already use Slack on a daily basis.

The redesign of the BlaBlaCar Careers site with Webflow

In addition to adopting Nocode solutions for automation, Blablacar used Webflow for the redesign of their Careers site, which was implemented by Alegria.group. Jérémie explained that Webflow was the ideal solution for this project because it was adapted to the needs of the People team, and allowed the teams to become autonomous in administering the site.

Although the redesign of their career platform is their first use of Webflow, Jeremie explained that Webflow could be used for other topics in the future. "It's now one more weapon in the toolbox, which we don't mind reusing following the satisfaction on the Blablacar Careers site. Our Pressroom or some intranets are good candidates for example, but nothing is prioritized for the moment," he said.

Jérémie Lebrun's vision of the Nocode

As a member of a technical team, Jérémie shared his vision of Nocode: "My vision of Nocode is the notion of time to market and focus. When talking to a developer about these technologies, one of the things you'll often hear is 'I can do it too', yes, but how fast? And on very standard features, is this your added value?

Until we set up a dedicated Software Engineering team, the project will not succeed, it succeeds thanks to Nocode because without it the technical team does not have the necessary bandwidth. Blablacar probably wouldn't have redesigned the Careers site without Webflow. Nocode solutions allow us to be a credible candidate for a certain number of projects that are not otherwise prioritized. Nocode isn't considered everywhere, but it's one more option for developing things."

In conclusion, BlaBlaCar is an example of the successful use of Nocode solutions to automate internal processes and develop applications. Their experience shows that Nocode solutions can be used effectively by traditional technical teams to accelerate time to market and improve the employee experience.