Bottom-Up Application Redesign
Role: Lead UX Designer
Artifacts: UX-PO Product Development Roadmap, Global Design Standards, Agile Stories, Wireframes,
The ChAllenge
Synopsis: The client had a first-generation call assistant application, which was hemorrhaging customers once it was time to extend their contract. Product and Design collaborated to build a complete overhaul of the application in a way that puts the user first and increases adoption throughout customers’ organizations.
As sometimes happens, non- bread-and-butter applications can fall to the wayside as large organizations prioritize larger, more profitable applications. Even if the small apps are important to a large segment of users. Add in an irregular update schedule and an anticipated sunset date, and things can quickly spell doom for the end-user.
In the case of the company in question, the call assistant application–a widely but patchily distributed piece of software for sales and service end users–had been stagnating with no update since 2008. However, the will to change it finally picked up steam when it became apparent that the application might not survive the next Windows update. Also, since it was tied to their flagship networking software, when (and if) the Windows "D-Day" came, the app would become completely nullified, leaving a large group of users very unhappy.
Obsolescence aside, there was also the need to drive better adoption of the call assistant application within customer organizations. Though it was licensed on a per-desk basis, about half of the users in possession of the application on their computer had no idea what it was, or why it was tied to their phone. Some users even thought that it was factory-installed bloatware!
The WORK
Top - Sketch from co-design session, detailing how to compile disparate customer data into a single app interface.
Bottom - Concept showing display of compiled customer info in a single interface.
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Research Work
Customer Interviews and subject matter expert interviews.
Competitive Analysis and design ideation.
User testing and pilot testing.
Design Work
Work with PO to reframe requirements and identify opportunities to increase user satisfaction and customer engagement.
Feature concepts, form-factor responsiveness,
Service workflow optimization for 6 usage scenarios across multiple roles.
Design was a test case to evolve the UX team design standards via CSS patterns, branded color palette and interaction design components.
When UX was presented with the current state of the application, by the product owner, they emphasized that the product had three priorities, in the following order:
Be ready for the Windows 'D-day'.
Have a more visually appealing UI, even if it only kept its current features.
Give easy-to-interpret incoming call data, even if the call assistant were not connected to the customer management application.
v1 interface
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The first item was a question of recoding a new version of the application, but in order to do that, the second item would need to become a priority as well, because the devs would need to know what kind of UI they'd be building. The third item would provide parameters so that UX and Product could prioritize features for MVP, and place non-MVP ones into the roadmap. More on that later.
Fortunately, the team had a wealth of data from earlier user interviews and design discovery exercises. With that info, UX was able to compile and quantify features for both a more 'universal' MVP, and post-MVP domain-specific roadmap. With this information Product and UX were able to create and prioritize Agile stories for the devs, while also front-loading UX work at the beginning of each sprint in order to test and design...and test some more.
The result
Info architecture from co-design session, later used as the DNA for other similar application.
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Using co-design best practices, the team was able to get the end product into pilot in less than eight weeks.
The flexibility and modularity we built into the call assistant notification designs became the standard for other similar projects. The more we were able to assist and control the development of pattern designs for alerts and notification, the more user and customer engagement increased.
After a successful launch, Product and UX were approached to create a new receptionist application, following the standards established for call assistant. Teams on related projects, such as CRM service alerts and data visualization, began to adopt the call assistant UI patterns as well. The application's API became the DNA for notifications and alerts to get delivered across the portfolio. As UX standards began to take shape at the company, our notification patterns formed the foundation of the global alert and notification patterns for the entire organization.