Transforming the Way Business Speaks

A modern enterprise VOIP solution

MY ROLE

I was the design lead, responsible for the end-to-end design process

TEAM

Beau Buchanan – Technical Program Manager
James Poulin – Director of Product
Roque Rios – Lead Engineer
Beth Schwindt – UX Researcher
Grant Albert – Product Owner
Ellen Aglietti  – Product Development Engineer
Chukwudi Ogbonnaya  – Visual Designer
Justine Smith  – Product Designer

VERSION

v1.0

THE PROBLEM

AT&T Business Voice is constrained by operational inefficiencies and product fragmentation that limit growth and profitability. The current ecosystem of discrete voice solutions cannot scale to meet customer demand—creating a backlog of over 7,000 installs, six-month lead times, and unsustainable vendor costs. To compete effectively in the business VoIP market, AT&T must evolve from siloed products into a unified, platform-based solution that simplifies deployment, accelerates delivery, and drives both profit margins and innovation.

Before, ordering and provisioning services was done manually via a sales agent

After, customers are able to buy, provision, configure, and manage services online

GOALS

A One-Stop-Shop

To effectively compete in the business VOIP (voice over internet protocol) space, AT&T needed to transform from having an ecosystem of similar, but discrete products, to having a consolidated platform product where customers can simply turn on and use the capabilities that they need.

• Create a unified platform that consolidates all essential voice tools in one place
• Migrate all POTS customers to VOIP
• Provide complete voice service management, enabling businesses to deploy, configure, and scale their communications infrastructure
  

DISCOVERY

Lost in Translation

The team conducted extensive user research, which consisted of:

• Sales focus group study
• 18 Technician ride-alongs across Texas, California, and Georgia
• 10 Concierge team interviews

Key insights:

• Lack of transparency in pricing, terms, and process leads to loss of trust
• Lengthy purchasing experience due to site questionnaire complexities and technical jargon confuses and frustrates customers
• Multiple, disparate systems and services hinder the ability to deliver efficiently
• Communication inconsistencies result in customers and technicians not being ready for installation
• Inaccurate customer data resulting in device configuration challenges, delayed orders and failed installs
• Customers are unclear about whether AT&T is the right solution for their business

“I just want to know it will work.”
~ Anne M, Pure Barre

How might we improve the profitability and velocity of AT&T’s basic business telephony products?

SOLUTION

A New Vision for Voice

AT&T Business Voice delivers a unified VOIP platform that transforms how businesses manage their voice communications. By consolidating fragmented voice services into a single, integrated solution, ABV eliminates the complexity and cost inefficiencies that plague traditional business phone systems.

ABV's "one-stop shop" platform provides complete voice service management through a single interface, enabling businesses to deploy, configure, and scale their communications infrastructure with unprecedented speed and simplicity.

Customers can shop for all their connectivity needs

Pricing and plan information is transparent and accessible

Customers can quickly and easily configure their voice service

Service is easily managed in the business voice admin portal

EXPLORATION

Where Efficiency Meets Expectation

I had a lot of great data to establish a set of product principles. The marketplace must offer a more efficient experience, better pricing, and faster service to keep up with customer demand and growing customer expectations.

Principles

Holistic
Provide a fully integrated product experience where customers can find all the tools they need in one place.

Solution-focused
Emphasize solving customer problems and help them see the broader value of the voice solutions beyond discrete product features.

Intuitive
Design experiences that make easy tasks effortless and complex tasks achievable.

Data-driven
Utilize metrics to help customers understand the business value created by voice services, going beyond simple dial tone.

Trust
Customers need to know that we can provide the right solution for their specific needs.

With the data gathered from research, I came to understand the current experience, and I was able to map the ideal end-to-end experience for a new or existing customer seeking new voice service or migration from landline service.

The old journey, based on AT&T's LBGUPS framework, highlights the many manual processes

Highlighting some of the above pain-points

To deliver a holistic, integrated product with the best possible customer experience, I adopted the AT&T’s LBGUPS (learn, buy, get, use, pay, support) framework.

The new process is automated and efficient, with a focus of doing everything online

The buy part of the LBGUPS framework was the most challenging. When I began the marketplace/digital buy flow process for connectivity solutions, we started with AT&T Dedicated Internet (ADI).

This is the first iteration, which was very lengthy and contained industry jargon that was confusing to customers, causing them to get stuck and need to contact support, or potentially abandon the process altogether.

As we began working Business Voice into the buy flow, the experience was simplified to three steps.

As we moved toward a unified experience (and a new design system), I reformatted the voice-specific questions for additional clarity and based on the customers' usage needs so that customers would be guided to the right solution.

The MVP of the buy flow consolidates all connectivity solution questions, and the form is dynamic, based on which connectivity solutions the customer chooses.

DESIGN

Not Your Mother's Marketplace

Holistic

• Before: The customer experience was disjointed due to many uncoordinated touchpoints.
• After: The "one-stop shop" provides a holistic, integrated product experience, putting all necessary tools in one place.
• Impact: This enables internal teams to build upon each other's analysis and data, eliminating silos. Customers benefit from a unified, consistent experience, reducing frustration and improving overall service management.

Solution-focused

• Before: The focus was on selling products and features.
• After: The digital buy flow guides customers to the right solution and the option for self-service online ordering. We are solving customer problems holistically, rather than focusing on individual features.
• Impact: By focusing on platformized technology solutions, we create product leverage that allows us to invest in innovation and differentiation.

Intuitive

• Before: From product discovery to deployment, the experience was stymied by disconnected, outdated, and laborious processes.
• After: A frictionless experience that makes easy tasks effortless and complex tasks achievable.
• Impact: The customer journey from initial discovery to post-install management is simplified and made more intuitive, reducing cognitive load and improving the overall ease of use. Internal workflows are also streamlined, allowing teams to focus on value creation rather than navigation.

Data-driven

• Before: Decisions were often based on anecdotal evidence. With a lack of intelligent insights, customers had little visibility into how and why their services were being used.
• After: Customer feedback is actively incorporated, and customers understand the business value of their voice services.
• Impact: This data-driven approach enables AT&T to make informed, evidence-based decisions to continuously improve the product. Better service and value lead to increased customer adoption and reduced churn.

Trust

• Before: Customers were unsure we could provide the right solution for their specific needs.
• After: Increased transparency builds trust and lets customers know we can provide the right solution for their specific needs.
• Impact: By building trust, abandonment rates are reduced, increasing revenue.

Digging Deeper

Throughout the project lifecycle, we continuously test with users. With my research partner, we conducted 17 user interviews with small to medium-sized business decision-makers. While the new learn/discover and buy experience received mostly positive feedback, we identified usability issues that still needed to be addressed.

Key insights:

• Customers do not view AT&T as a market innovator
• The buy flow is viewed as too lengthy and not intuitive
• Customers are unclear about how to choose the right solution
• Plan information lacks clarity

AT&T Business Voice discrete user flow

AT&T Business Voice unified user flow

Customers do not view AT&T as an innovator in the market

Pain-points:

• Customers struggle to figure out what AT&T can offer beyond plain old telephony service
• Newer players in the market, such as Zoom and 8x8 are viewed as more modern solutions

Customers did not see AT&T as an innovator. Services from Zoom, 8x8, and RingCentral are seen as market differentiators, giving customers more confidence in market fit.

Explorations of the discovery/learn page. Users struggled to find information, and when they did, they felt the value prop was unclear. In addition, things that matter most, like pricing, were either not visible or buried deep below the fold.

Before

• Product offerings are unclear
• Customers do not view AT&T as the innovative, modern solution they are seeking

After

• Better discoverability and information about product offerings
• Clear value proposition

The buy flow is viewed as too lengthy and not intuitive

Pain-points:

• The digital buy flow is too long and laborious
• Some of the terminology is confusing
• A non-linear experience is needed to better navigate the buy flow
• Customers feel overwhelmed by information, increasing cognitive load

While we made strides in reducing the original site questionnaire from 25 to 18 questions, feedback was that it was still too lengthy, and some terminology was confusing. We had focused on a very linear experience, and users needed non-linear navigation through the purchase process.

Additional buy flow explorations

Before

• The digital buy flow is still viewed as a laborious process, with confusing industry jargon
• Too much information results in customers feeling overwhelmed
• Navigation is too linear

After

• The buy flow is simplified with terminology that is familiar to both technical and non-technical users
• Asking questions that only impact price upfront, while moving secondary questions to the post-purchase experience, allowed us to simplify the experience further
• Creating two persona-based flows reduced cognitive load
• Users can seamlessly navigate both forward and backward without losing information to see how selections influenced price and the overall set of features

Plan information lacks clarity

Pain-points:

• Pricing, contract terms and conditions, and specs are unclear
• Customers are unclear about how to choose the right solution

Customers had trouble choosing between plans and trusting the price they were quoted online. Some customers felt they can get a better deal by talking to a sales rep, so how can we imbue that level of confidence online?

Plan explorations. Choosing between plans wasn’t easy for most users.

Before

• Pricing, contract terms and conditions, and product specs are unclear, giving customers little confidence in the online purchasing process

After

• More transparency gives customers more confidence in making purchasing decisions

IMPACT

Results

As previously mentioned, we frequently conduct research and testing. Our initial usability scores were not good, which left a lot of room for improvement. After many iterations, our scores greatly improved. The private beta for dedicated internet launched in July 2023 and the public beta launched in September 2023 With successful self-service options, customers were less reliant on sales and customer support.

• Usability score: +20
• Products launched on the marketplace: 3
• Features shipped: 12
• Self-service success: 48%