Improving brand and service management efficiency

Project:

Improving brand and service management efficiency.

Purpose Software, a provider of MPS software, aimed to address the cost, complexity, and risk of unmanaged print infrastructures, responding to market dissatisfaction with the need for digital transformation, better analytics, and improved delivery.

Mission objectives:

Research: Conduct user research, including interviews and surveys with target audience groups and development teams to identify pain points of the existing app.

Prototyping and feature validation: Develop interactive prototypes of key software features, and explore opportunities to drive innovation.

Testing and feedback loop: Conduct user testing with copier service managers and field service engineers, gathering feedback on the software’s interface, features and functionality.

Researching critical data to support user experience design

Finding the facts

Customer surveys, live system data and user testing all helped validate industry reports of the need for digital transformation.

User testing of original field engineer application

User research

11 out of the 14 engineers reported significant challenges with the usability of the original 2roam application, particularly in terms of navigation and overall user experience, indicating areas that needed improvement to enhance ease of use and efficiency.

On a lighter note, one engineer jokingly mentioned, "My sausage fingers had trouble pressing some of the links while navigating the app".

Usability testing

Participants were asked to complete a series of tasks, and their performance was measured using three core usability metrics.

Effectiveness looked at how accurately and completely they were able to finish the tasks.

Efficiency assessed how quickly and easily they could complete them. Finally,

Satisfaction gauged how enjoyable and pleasant their overall experience was.

Understanding user needs and developing empathy

Designing with empathy

Brainstorming, card sorting, interviews, surveys, and in-vehicle observation combined with role-play simulations (both useful and entertaining!) helped develop empathy and provided both practical insights and entertaining findings into audience needs and challenges.

Defining user task flows and storyboards

Identify user groups

Colour coded post-its provided clear logic to distinguish business and user interactions at a glance.

Operational flows

A great technique to improve the user experience… fresh ideas were integrated into the process.

Operational flows

This exercise also helped form the foundations for audience persona creation plus lots of fresh ideas 🙂

Creating audience personas

Consolidating business and user needs

Validating business and user needs to support product design and development

Testing the driving position and ease of use with a dash-mounted device, alongside real field service engineers performing virtual tasks proved to be both informative and entertaining. Ideas for future phases were also captured in a wish list for future product backlog stories.

Defining the foundations for user experience design

Creating a high-level sitemap served as a starting point to further develop the most suitable information architecture model. Facilitating a card sorting session helped organise the site content into logical groups.

High Fidelity Prototype Design

Design empathy

Field engineer job alerts are auto-linked to the Sat Nav. This idea optimises operational efficiency and improves the user experience.

Intuitive navigation

Chunky buttons make it easy for engineers to operate with one hand. Important features are positioned within easy reach.

Flexible user display

Colour options ensure brand continuity. Night time and heads-up display options support the user experience.

Evaluating customer use case scenarios

High Fidelity Prototype Design

Dashboard Lite branding and application visual for a regional operations manager to monitor and identify opportunities to improve field service efficiency.

Results

Streamlining processes to meet evolving demands for a more efficient, data-driven approach

Wishlist ideas were documented for future-phase prototyping and refinement, and used as sales tools to support client product investment. The business continued to thrive with innovation and customer focus, laying the foundations to support the roadmap for acquisition.

This research and prototyping helped shape the product roadmap, focusing on user-centred design and features that demonstrated the business was responding to customer needs, maintaining its position as a market leader.

300+

Over 300 product improvement suggestions and innovative features to support the product owners' roadmap rationalisation.

100%

5 out of 5 field service and service managers expressed delight on the improved navigation, features, ease of use, reporting and branding.