Challenge

Telarix, the global leader in telecommunications interconnect, wanted to refresh and upgrade their iXTools product suite and deliver it as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to align with evolving marketplace needs. The company needed a knowledgeable and experienced team of UX professionals to help modernize and unify their product suite, improve functionality, and create new functionality to capitalize on current and emerging market trends.

Solution

Experience by Design (EBD) worked with Telarix’s CTO, VP of Engineering, and VP of Product to craft a horizontal, cross-functional experience model that would unify the iXTools UI and replace the siloed and vertically-oriented model that existed.

We used this model to guide collaboration with the product team to design a new container framework, workflows, and UI for development of a proof-of-concept prototype for the iXTools suite.

Together with the Telarix product leadership team we used the proof-of-concept prototype to get internal buy-in, solicit external feedback, refine our ideas, and help gauge fit in the marketplace. We also used the proof-of-concept to facilitate discussions with the engineering team to determine feasibility, level of effort, and identify any key risks for development prior to embarking full steam ahead on design.

Meanwhile, our UX architect led an exploratory design discovery effort using a series of work sessions with the various iXTools product managers to review, breakdown, and inventory the features and workflows for key iXTools modules, features, and functionality.

With fit and feasibility confirmed and findings from our UX architect’s discovery exercise, my team and I partnered with Telarix’s product and engineering teams to develop a plan for a phased design and iterative development process. The result was a well-structured, collaborative, and iterative effort.

Next, we collaborated with the Telarix product team to create various design artifacts and product specifications. We transitioned these to our  front-end engineer and Telarix’s engineering team leads as inputs for planning build sprints and guiding development.

Result

We delivered designs, specifications, and front-end templates for the new UI that the Telarix team integrated with the refactored iXTools SaaS platform. The new SaaS platform gave Telarix the flexible, intuitive, and user-friendly products it needed to stay ahead of a dynamic and evolving telecommunications marketplace. The new SaaS platform provided solutions that were:

• Easier for target customers to implement and rollout operationally.
• Less costly for Telarix and customers to administer and maintain.
• More viable and attractive to customers in other segments of the telecommunications industry.

List of Services

• Brainstorming Workshops + Collaborative Design Sessions
• Proof of Concept Design
• UX Team + Design Management
• Project Planning + Management
• Concept Modeling + Alignment
• IxD + UI Design
• Graphic Design
• UI Specification + Patterns
• Prototypes + Front-end Templates