Automated Underwriting

Text

Role: Product Owner / Design Lead

Context: Desktop Digital Adoption SaaS

Launch: Dec 2020

My individual contribution

I was the product owner and content builder for WalkMe Workstation. I owned the implementation and content design process end-to-end. I conducted impact and audience analyses, collaborated with the vendor engineers and corporate engineering teams, prioritized content creation, designed content, coordinated with stakeholders and leaders, performed organizational change management to support the launch, defined KPIs, and collected metrics in support of those KPIs. I also participated inenterprise license negotiations as an SME, and my contributions and insights were key to giving the company leverage during pricing negotiations.

Research

Interaction Design

Content Design

Product Management

___ PROJECT DETAILS

Understanding the project.

About

My company began a multi-year corporate change initiative to transition multiple tools to Microsoft Office 365 Suite. This included replacing our current online meeting platform from Webex to Microsoft Teams. The cost savings to the company of this transition to Microsoft Teams is $2M/yr.

The WalkMe digital adoption initiative was launched in tandem with the launch of Microsoft Teams and was key in driving adoption of Microsoft Teams and compliance with usage best practices.

Adoption Challenge

When Microsoft Teams was released as part of a broader rollout to Microsoft Office 365, the extent of training provided to frontline employees was an email saying “We’re transitioning to Teams on Monday. If you want to learn more about it click here.” Frontline workers don’t have time to do that. WalkMe was so effective because they could learn as they used the tool.

30,000+

Impacted Employees

$2M/yr

Cost Savings Target

01/

CHAPTER

Research

___ UNDERSTAND

Empathize.

Audience & Impact Analysis

I conducted research to develop an understanding of our users. I performed the Audience and Impact Analysis for the entire Microsoft 365 digital transformation initiative.

Microsoft Teams was part of MVP3 of the larger multi-year initiative, and I was able to directly leverage that work to make informed decisions prioritizing content for WalkMe.

  • Identified and documented impacted business units

  • Leveraged SMEs to determine the impact of the technology changes on impacted groups

  • Analyzed and documented the current state and future state, including changes in features, processes, and capabilities

  • Categorized the changes based on level of impact and magnitude of change to each persona

Key Takeaways

During the course of my discovery I uncovered several key risks that needed to be addressed correctly do avoid negative impacts to clients and the business during the transition to Microsoft Teams.

Blackout dates for technical releases

Client-facing reliance on Webex

___ UNDERSTAND

Define.

Prioritize Content

Based on the Audience and Impact Analysis that I completed, as well as my present and future state analysis, I was able to prioritize content design. I focused on changes that had a high impact on a broad audience, as well as changes that had business-critical impacts, even if only for a smaller audience. I collaborated with SMEs to validate my prioritization and ensure there were no deployment conflicts. I then mapped out content launch windows and socialized those with senior leadership and key stakeholders.

  • 200+ unique learning content modules

  • 4 high risk groups, including client-facing employees

  • 3 content launch windows to prioritize high impact content first

DESIGN

02/

CHAPTER

___ EXPLORE

Ideate.

Design Language

Part of the design process was establishing a consistent content appearance. This extended to colors, fonts, icons, spacing and layout, graphic design and illustrations, and more.

This was important to streamline onboarding and handovers to future content builders, to create brand consistency, and to make the tool more intuitive by providing users with a uniform experience. It also contributed to scalability by reducing the need to reinvent the wheel down the road with future design decisions. Additionally, I worked with the vendor to incorporate our corporate branding into our instance of the WalkMe Digital Adoption Platform.

Design System

Once I had defined the look and feel of the WalkMe tool I compiled that into a design system with pre-built components that allowed for rapid deployment of new content that adhered to the company’s brand design language.

Information Architecture

Finally, information architecture was a significant consideration. Success of the tool relied on being able to present information to users in a clear, intuitive, and accessible way that reduced user cognitive load.

___ EXPLORE

Prototype.

Vendor Collaboration

I collaborated directly with the vendor engineering team to resolve bugs and propose new features. My feedback directly resulted in new features being added to the platform. I also worked with a vendor consultant to quickly learn the platform and deliver high-quality and impactful content.

Product Build

I built content based on the content prioritization plan, in alignment with the established design language and following the information architecture for each function.

03/

CHAPTER

EXECUTION

___ MATERIALIZE

Test.

Gather Feedback & Provide Updates

After creating content I returned to my Stakeholders, SMEs, and Pilot Testers for feedback to fine-tune before launching, and I regularly updated Senior Leadership on progress.

Stakeholders

Pilot Testers

SMEs

Leaders

Change Management

Engaging Product Partners

Post-Launch Support and Continuous Improvement

I led the Organizational Change Management strategy for WalkMe Workstation. This involved:

  • Ready, Set, Go email cadences to drive awareness

  • Working with people leaders to drive awareness and desire

  • Quick Reference Guides and a crowd-sourced Help Center in Microsoft Teams to drive knowledge of how to use the tool

  • Leverage metrics and adapt content to ensure ability and drive reinforcement

  • I worked directly with our Technology Services Engineering team to deploy the .msi files, including updates, throughout the lifecycle of the product

  • I collaborated with my product partners to ensure deployment of WalkMe Workstation to over 30k employees, in pre-planned waves based on personas

  • I continued building content post-launch based on content prioritization

  • I established a crowd-sourced help center in Microsoft Teams

    • Provided visibility to SMEs and more technologically literate individuals as they shared knowledge with peers

    • Encouraged users to engage with Microsoft Teams as a resource when they have questions

    • Reduced tech support tickets by over 60% based on anticipated call volume

    • Created engaged community of colleagues collaborating to learn and optimize

___ OUTCOMES

Define and Track KPIs.

KPIs

I had 3 primary KPIs that aligned with the overal business OKRs.

  1. Measurably increase digital adoption rates as compared to adpotion rates from MVP1 and MVP2

    • Microsoft Teams was part of the MVP 3 rollout of the broader Microsoft Office 365 multi-year project

  2. Drive overall digital adoption

  3. Realize cost savings to the company by reducing the number of Webex licenses in use

    • The business transitioned from Webex to Microsoft Teams as our primary collaboration platform

Results

Adoption Acceleration Rate

(as compared to MVP1 and MVP2)

Overall Digital Adoption

(3 months after launch)

Business cost savings

(from Webex license reduction)

ALL CASE STUDIES

Get In Touch

Available for questions, collaborations, and projects