As the lead designer, my mission was to blend calling, messaging, and collaboration tools into the existing BlueJeans meetings for a unified platform. Despite challenges like time constraints and limited resources, the soft launch at Verizon earned praise for its user-friendly design and seamless integration with the BlueJeans app.

Overview

Calling & Recordings

Track calls, listen to voicemail, read transcriptions. Provide rich PBX functionalities including OTT calling and PSTN.

Global Search

Find everything in one place. Instantly search across all messages, files, meetings and contacts.

Team Messaging

Keep conversations going out-of-meetings in 1:1, group and private or open channels with file and media sharing.

Contacts

Connect colleagues or personal contacts in one place. User can view and manage contacts as wish.

Multi-Tasking & Video Meetings

Online meetings with high quality audio/video and a set of advanced collaboration tools.

Timeframe

Estimated: Q1 2022 ~ Q2 2023 soft launch

Competitor Analysis

Affinity Diagram.
Source: G2 Crowd / Gartner / Google Play / App Store (Aug 2011 ~ Feb 2022)

RingCentral

Intuitive & Consolidated
Calling & recording are heavily used
Unclear message category
Limited phone capabilities
Short recording period

646 Samples

Microsoft Teams

Manage, track & organize
Emojis & GIF creates a fun friendly environment
Reliable service
Flexibility & Customization
Limited chat functionality
Chat visibility issues

1250 Samples

WebEx

HD Quality
Excellent security & privacy
Small recording size saves data usage and retain quality
Poor screen share performance
High bandwidth consumption

610 Samples

Zoom

Simple & User Friendly
Emojis/GIF friendly environment
Privacy Concern
Lack of chat visibility

600 Samples

8x8

Easy to record and track calls
Good security measures
Flexibility & Customization
Unreliable - unable to receive calls even with good service which led some to terminate
Poor customer support

391 Samples

Verizon One Talk

Good Price
Mobility & Management
Missing or delayed messages, notifications
Poor Performance
Limited Functionality
UI Complexity

297 Samples

Takeaways

Messaging

One to One
Group Messaging
Channels
File Transfers
Search Messages
Social Presence
SMS

Calling

Inbound/Outbound
Call Recording
Voicemail
Transcript
PBX Functionalities
Notification
PSTN

Video Meeting

Screen Sharing
Dolby Voice
Meeting Widget
Calendar Integration
Breakout Sessions
Smart Meetings
Collab Board

Contacts

Contact List
Contact Information
Customized field
Searchable
Quick Contact Card
Favorite Contact
Enterprise Size Dependence

Global Search

Filters
Message keywords
Call log
Recordings
Meeting history
Media and files
Contacts

Differentiators

Better with Verizon

Built on reliable performance
Trusted security
Optimal audio/video quality
Reliable connection & higher bandwidth

Mobile First

Mobile centric experience
More value at low cost
Highest audio/video reliability

User Friendly

Ease of use
Smooth deployment

Feature Rich

Customizable
Integral widget for multi-tasking
Real-time analytics and reporting
Enterprise admin

BlueJeans Meetings

Smart Meetings
In-meeting collaboration tools

Artificial Intelligence

Chat summaries
Meeting schedule via chat
Gif suggestions

User Interview

Feedback Session with the Verizon Internal Sales Team

Feedback on Features

Walkthrough of the mobile and desktop prototype
Understand how effective the product is for customers and how they feel about the experience

Improve Sales Experience

Understand how to make the experience even better for the Verizon internal team to sell our products

Optimize Experience

What’s working/needs improvement
Understand favorites and most features used in the products

Validate Product Usage

Confirm product metrics
Understand user experiences

Design Process

Tier System

High level layout and design language
Wireframe layout, identify main features, prioritize key UI components and plan out testing item.

Main features and flows breakdown
High fidelity design of main use cases, interaction and prototyping.

Design validation and UX enhancement
Conduct testing and user interview.

Edge case and error handling
Error handling and fine tune UI and copy messages.

User Testing

Customer Interview | Preference Test | Prototype Task | Survey

Example of a Prototype Test – Multi-Window Approach

Research & Planning

Research competitors to find opportunities/gaps. Gain strong data of what users want to avoid any bias.

Design & Test

Unmoderated test on 11 participants who were given 3 prototypes task.

Result & Analysis

73% of users preferred prototype C (window + multi window) that includes most essential controls only.

Findings

Multitasking is important to users - widget with essential controls allows users to be connected to the meeting at all times.

Main features

Messaging

OTT + SMS/MMS

1-1, Group, Channel Conversations

Direct 1-1 chat, group chat, or open/private channel

File & Media Transfer

Easily share files, images, audio clips, gifs or contacts within any chat conversation.

Organization + Search

Keep conversations streamlined with forwarding, copy, timestamps and message status. Search helps to find what is needed quickly and easily.

Customizable Settings

Set up communication and notification settings with customizable preferences.

SMS/MMS

Offering a unified platform with quick information sharing and enhanced reachability and customer engagement.

Calling

OTT Audio/Video Call + PSTN

Phone system features

VoIP calling
Audio to video call escalation
App calling
Call transfer, park, hold, etc
Call recording
Voicemail with transcriptions
Barge calls
Shared Line
Extension dialing
Call history
Hunt groups
Analytics and reporting

Profile + Social Presence

Share current availability and status to others within the organization

Informs others about user’s availability, focus, and current context; help to reduce interruptions and facilitate efficient communication.

Presence options

Available / Do not Disturb / Away / Offline can be set manually based on user needs.

Custom Status

Enables users to convey important info to teammates without messaging. It enhances understanding of availability and context while minimizing interruptions for efficient communication.

Global Search

Centralized Retrieval

Find info across chats, calls, meetings, and files from one search bar.

Quick Actions

Forward, bookmark, or download with one-click results.

Preview & Scalability

Search active and archived messages, previewing for discovery.

Advanced Filters

Precise results with category-based filters.

Visible Queries

Retrieve effortlessly based on keywords, contacts, and topics.

Multi-Tasking

Enhanced Work Flexibility

Simplify task management and prioritize responsibilities effortlessly.

Timely Reminders and Notifications

Eliminate concerns about missing important moments for messages, calls, or meetings with prompt alerts.

Custom Workspace and Intuitive UI Controls

Customize work environments by rearranging widgets and panels, ensuring a user-friendly experience that aligns with individual needs.

Challenges

No clear roadmap

Work closely with PM, conducting competitor analysis and user interview to prioritize features and functionalities. Frequently sync up with product and engineer team to make sure there's no knowledge gap.

Unexacting user testing result

In the multitasking scenario, we initially planned to have video meetings in a separate window. However, user tests favored a different approach. After extensive discussions and further evaluations, a final decision emerged, integrating insights from internal teams and additional feedback.

Time management & delay of decision changes

Due to a tight timeline, product, design, and development operated concurrently. Given that any alteration impacted the workflow, it was crucial to maintain constant communication and ensure alignment among all involved parties.

Limited resources and the onboarding process for new designers

Establish a streamlined and comprehensive design system and guidelines, fostering efficient and accurate utilization.

New add-on functionalities

Just like dressing up a child with a collection of luxury items, aiming for harmony with the child's personality and among the items. The challenge was to seamlessly integrate new functionalities to transform the existing platform into a unified communication app.

What's Next

AI Integration

To assess the value and utility of AI for users, we conducted a survey querying testers' opinions on various messaging aspects, including drafting and modifying messages. The findings revealed that features such as messaging summaries, drafting assistance, and adjusting message length/tone were highly favored by over 80% of the participants.

Summary

Generate chat/call/meeting summaries based on user’s chat history, meeting/call recordings.

The AI summary feature saves time, increases productivity, and enables better decision-making by providing key insights, identifying key topics of discussion and action items associated with people.

Compose

Generate a message with a text prompt that is relevant, accurate, and tailored to the user's needs and also change its tone and length.

This feature saves users time and effort by automating the process of drafting messages, enabling them to focus on other tasks. A great way for users to communicate more effectively and efficiently.

BlueJeans Comm Suite

All-in-One Communication App across Platforms.