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JENNIFER BECKER
Engagement / Orchestration Designer
Redesign how Avaya's workflow tool works
Project Overview
As the Lead UX Designer for Avaya Orchestration, I was tasked with simplifying the tool for Business Analysts after receiving negative customer feedback in 2017.
However, I faced a significant challenge due to the tool's complexity and advanced programmer-focused documentation that even hindered my understanding.
Problem
Users were expressing dissatisfaction with Avaya Orchestration, stating that the tool was too complex and challenging to use without programming knowledge or extensive training. This feedback presented a significant challenge for the UX design team as they sought to address usability issues and improve the tool's overall user experience.
“Wouldn't it be great if you could take an internal business process, lay it out visually, and then just ... turn it on? No more confusion, emails, Excel spreadsheets, shared documents, or, gasp(!), paper forms. You just draw what you want to happen and suddenly everyone knows what they need to do.” - Senior Manager
Solution
As Lead UX Designer for Avaya Orchestration, I led a comprehensive tool redesign to address negative customer feedback and usability issues for Business Analysts. Despite facing complexity challenges due to advanced programmer-focused documentation, I proactively sought external resources and collaborated with experts to gain a deeper understanding of the tool's intricacies. With this knowledge, I successfully identified areas for improvement and redesigned the tool to meet the customers' needs, showcasing my proactive problem-solving approach and collaborative skills.
Engagement Designer original screens
Project Scope
CCaaS Web Application
Tools
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Figma
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Adobe XD and Illustrator
Role
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UX Designer
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UX Research
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Accessibility
Team
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Lead UX Designer
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Jr. UX Designer
Responsibilities
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User Interviews
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Usability Testing
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Market Research
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Competitive Analysis
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UX Workshop
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Personas
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Customer Journey
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User stories
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Lo-fi and Hi-fi UI
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Prototypes
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Accessibility Evaluation
Problem Statement
"Avaya Orchestration faced significant customer dissatisfaction due to the tool's complexity and difficulty in use without programming knowledge or extensive training."
Overview
To improve the usability of the Avaya Orchestration tool, I proactively sought out users with varying skill levels, including an expert, intermediate, and two beginner users. These individuals were all part of a training company that provided training to both Avaya employees and customers, and they were all users of the tool.
With approval from my manager, I reached out to the users, and they provided valuable feedback that helped me gain a better understanding of the tool's usability issues. The expert user was particularly notable as they had previously spoken about our product at Avaya's Engage conferences. Their positive response to my outreach, such as the quote from the Workflow User, reflected the value of user input in achieving optimal user-centric design solutions.
"I am just flattered that you care about my opinions…" - Advanced Workflow User
Next Steps
Customer Interviews
To further improve the usability of the Avaya Orchestration tool, I conducted several customer interviews with each user over ten days. The users were enthusiastic about sharing their opinions and experiences with the tool.
During the interviews, the users expressed their belief that the tool had the potential to be fantastic but identified several significant challenges that needed to be addressed to meet our core business goals.
The quotes from the users below showcase their valuable insights into the usability issues of the tool.
"…this thing kicks butt. With everything I know and have read this is the HOT product ….people don't know it yet but this is the future!!"
Marketing Challenges
“CONVINCE ME….. Convince me that Avaya is using this … Give me some real world substantial dollar and cents examples”
“…Show me how Avaya is working with those call centers to improve Avaya’s delivery of support. ”
Documentation and Support Challenges
“there are parts of this product that make no sense at all… it frustrates me to no end that I see something and think… I might want to use this…. But I can’t figure out how to use it…”
“I have provided feedback with questions but have not received any comments back”
UX / UI Challenges
“The neatness of this tool leaves a lot to be desired”
“When trying to delete the Message Boundary Event – it seems attached to the Play and Collect task. If you make a mistake and need to delete that event you have to delete the Play and collect and then start again, can’t delete just the event when it is attached… That is a huge problem!”
“I am colorblind, I can’t see the icons correctly”
Presentation
After the interviews, I created a prioritized list of the top 12 implementation issues and examples of UX improvements.
To organize these issues, I used a key that incorporated guidelines for JIRA creation, research requirements, UX-specific issues, documentation updates, and bug fixes.
In addition to this, I conducted a thorough analysis of 13 direct competitors, highlighting their unique features and standard practices. I also shared insights on emerging trends in the industry, including "code-free" workflow tools, and presented examples of user-friendly documentation that featured clear and concise instructions.
Thanks to the support of senior management, we were able to commence the redesign process with a clear understanding of our users, market needs, and business goals.
Vision
I aimed to create a platform that simplifies business processes and enhances customer experiences by providing an intuitive and user-friendly visual workflow tool that eliminates the need for coding. Our drag-and-drop builder allows non-technical users to create and customize IVR flows and voice assistants with ease.
To achieve this, I focused on the following:
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Creating a simple and intuitive design with clear instructions and prompts to ensure usability.
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Providing documentation and instructions for effective tool use.
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Incorporating features like grid, snapping nodes, zoom/pan options for proper alignment, consistency, and handling complex workflows.
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Allowing users to customize workflows by renaming tasks, editing properties, and changing the order on the canvas.
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Designing a palette with collapsible drawers that list tasks with common functions and customized names and descriptions for better user understanding.
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Updating the design system to ensure accessibility compliance with navigation and color contrast.
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Implementing a properties panel that enables users to customize and fine-tune workflows by viewing/editing task details.
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Offering a monitor preview application that highlights a task and monitors its progress through a call center.
My ultimate goal was to create a powerful platform that simplifies business processes and improves customer experience by providing users with an easy-to-use, customizable, and visually appealing drag-and-drop workflow tool.
Design Options
Final Design
As the lead designer, my role involved translating the design vision into our Design System. Collaborating with a junior designer, we worked closely with the design system team to ensure that any new components were added to the system.
Our design process began with creating user flows, designs, and prototypes for all the main tasks, including onboarding, building, deploying, and testing workflows, along with their corresponding error flows. To ensure that our designs met the needs of our users, we incorporated feedback from customer interviews and competitive analysis. We also re-evaluated the tasks on our canvas to determine the type of data that analysts need.
One interesting insight we received was that users often printed workflows. To address this, we made sure that exits were more visible, and we reduced the number of tasks per group. We also created more generic tasks that could be used in multiple scenarios, making it easier for users to understand and print workflows.
Our design strategy was centered on enhancing the product's features to improve accessibility compliance, such as navigation and color contrast. We focused on creating a seamless user experience that meets the needs of our users while also being accessible to all.
