Bringing Innovative Technology to North American Auto Repair Shops
Shop-Ware makes workflow management software for auto repair shops allowing them to increase productivity through online order taking, inventory management, and reports/analytics. They have 300 clients across North America managing more than 1,000 locations.
Shop-Ware was founded in 2013 with a clear vision: bring modern software to an industry that had been underserved by technology for decades. Auto repair shops were managing complex workflows — vehicle intake, diagnostics, parts ordering, customer communication, and payments — with tools that weren't built for the job. Shop-Ware gained traction quickly, but growth created its own pressure. The product roadmap was ambitious and the feature backlog was growing faster than a small internal team could address. The challenge wasn't a lack of ideas — it was execution capacity. Building a specialized technical team in-house for a niche vertical takes time that a fast-growing startup rarely has. Shop-Ware needed engineers who could move quickly, integrate deeply, and build software that real auto shops would actually use.
Approach
In 2018, Shop-Ware brought Admios in to help execute their product vision. A team of five engineers worked directly with Shop-Ware's CTO and lead engineer, embedded into the existing development process from day one. Over the course of the engagement the team delivered a significant expansion of the platform's capabilities: new shop management workflows, quick vehicle lookup by license plate number and VIN, automated vehicle diagnostics, integration with a third-party parts database, and a streamlined QuickBooks accounting integration. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in-person payment collection became an immediate problem for auto repair shops across the country, the Admios team delivered remote payment via phone — giving Shop-Ware's customers a critical lifeline at exactly the moment they needed it. The platform was built on React for the frontend with Ruby on Rails powering the backend.
Results
The features Admios delivered helped power Shop-Ware's expansion from a promising startup to a nationally recognized platform serving 300 clients across more than 1,000 locations in the US and Canada. The growth attracted partnerships with Bosch and Lyft, and in 2019 Shop-Ware showcased their software at the SEMA auto show in Las Vegas — one of the largest automotive industry events in the world — as an industry-leading product.
Perhaps the most telling measure of the engagement's success came at the end of it. Shop-Ware hired one of the Admios engineers directly, sponsoring his H-1B visa and relocation to the United States. It is the kind of outcome Admios actively encourages — an engineer who had proven his value over the course of a long engagement, trusted enough by the client to become a permanent member of their team. It reflects something Admios believes about the work: when the fit is right, the relationship outlasts the contract.
