Relevant experience: UX design, Research, Prototyping, Design System, Software
Intro
Project Leap is a solution specifically designed for Managed Service Providers (MSP) that manage SMB customers. Leap is a project working on the cloud that provides a lot of different IT support features such as patching, device control, network security, remote control, software distribution and insights with the option to automate.
I worked in a small team, which is part of innovation, to build a solution that makes use of other Cloud Solutions within Ivanti.
Our absolute target was a user experience where no training is needed.
Problem
Because a lot already was been implemented as a beta, it was clear that the beta users struggled to begin and engage with the application. Multiple problems were that people get overwhelmed by the number of features, it didn’t give them the confidence to know where and how to start with Project Leap. There was no obvious onboarding in the solution and a lot of the actions were hidden behind an overview of queries and search opportunities.
Role
As lead designer of the team, I conceptualized the solution and built the prototype of an entirely new flow to a more intuitive and guiding experience. I also ran the research part of the design process: preparing, creating surveys to incorporate quantitative user information but also organizing and running the user tests to validate the concept and user experience.
Goal
More active users in Project Leap with the following research question:
‘How can MSPs quickly learn to use Leap and support their customers better, more quickly and without spending too much?’. The main outcome we’re aiming: customers of SMB spending less money on IT services and focus on their high-value projects while using smooth-running machines and software.
Desired outcome
There was already an existing and working beta, but there were many UX flaws. Improving the current user interface of the application will only do so much, so we worked on an entirely new concept. Important was that we focused on the outcome for the MSP that we had in mind: saving time, increasing visibility on insights of their environments, pro-actively working and reporting to their customers.
Analyze
Since the team already worked on a beta with a feature-rich user interface it was important to analyze what is right and mainly what is wrong about the current state of the solution. Each feature is mapped out as a user flow and points of attention were noted to see what didn’t work out in the current experience.
Experience Mapping / Persona
Focusing on the MSP meant targeting the IT Specialist. Looking at the abilities, objectives and behavior of that particular kind of user helped to shape the design. We used personas to visualize the needs and mapped out an experience journey with a specific flow we had in mind. This way we could see what problems there can be, but also to see the opportunities per touchpoint or interaction.
Sketching concepts
Inspired by the design sprint methods (designsprintkit.withgoogle.com) such as Solution Sketch and Crazy 8, I worked out various ‘core concepts’ where the main outcome was kept in mind.
User flows
To elaborate more on this concept, I worked out user flows with multiple scenarios. For example: how would a Specialist use Remote Control? Or how would an IT support employee use the Remote Control in the most ideal way?
Prototyping in high fidelity
Now that the main concept and the first essential flow were clear I began working on a high fidelity prototype mainly by using existing Ivanti design elements from the Design System. I created new elements if needed that fit into the existing Design System and could be worth for other Ivanti projects as well. The prototype was highly realistic and contained the necessary interactions so that the flow speaks for itself and could be interpreted the right way for the developers. Parts of the flow where iterated many times by the team. The team could correct a lot of parts in the flow because the developers, project manager and product manager had a solid knowledge and experience in the MSP field. This way we could make important changes fast. When the whole team was satisfied with the first version we started with the test process: testing with real users.
Above a sample of the prototype. The user starts with an overview of its customer’s insights to (proactively) act on issues or can use the insights to present to a customer. In this flow, the user gets guided on how to create a new customer with all steps involved (downloading and installing agent, discovering endpoints and pushing agents).
User Testing
With the help of other Ivanti UX designers and the UX Researcher, a new approach has been devised to collect effective and qualitative user feedback. I also carried out this approach within the Leap project to gather feedback from the actual users, the MSPs. A list of MSP employees was made and mainly consisted of beta users that were interested in the current Project Leap. With these users, a UX interview was done to get to know the downfalls of this concept and see if it would work in the first place. Patterns in the user feedback were quickly found. One of the most significant comments where that MSPs needed to build more trust with the customer before pushing an agent to multiple endpoints.
Quantitative usage analytics
To see if the changes will have any positive effect we first have to see how successful — or not successful the app is now. How successful is Leap at this moment? To measure what the usage is of this moment we build a dashboard with queries using the Kusto Query Language. This way the whole team had an overview to see how many environments were active, installed an agent and in-fact used Leap’s features.
This way we could observe if we actually got more engagement — significantly more deployed agents, more used features etc. — in the beta through the new design. Although at this moment it is still too fresh to tell if the approach helped, the real users were confident about the new UX and thought the experience was way more intuitive than what Leap had before. To quote one of the MSP employees: ‘Simplicity is important and you have it pretty right’. Simplicity is indeed important. Not only for the MSP but especially for their customers, which are often less technical than the MSP. As long as it isn’t simple just for the sake of making it simple: specialists still desire flexibility. Briefly, there is still a long way to go to reach the full potential of Leap. Different customers have different requirements and authenticating via cloud may not be an option after all.
Learned lessons
When having the first initial design or prototype, testing with real users is of great importance. But a clear drawback is that it can take some time to build up that list of users and especially when the design is in its early stages it is essential to validate and fail fast. I learned to first check with practical experienced and knowledgeable teammates before trying to schedule any user test with a real user. It saves a lot of time if you haven’t build up any user test participants database. It’s also good to realize that you can’t count on the users to tell you what to build but they can help you point in the right direction.
