Watson IoT Center

Workplace application

In 2017, IBM invested in a collaborative studio in Munich, Germany. The building would house IBM's Watson IoT employees, as well as, visiting clients who want to work alongside IoT specialists to develop applications. 
My team was tasked with building an employee experience application that helped occupants of the building utilize it to the fullest. I was the design researcher on the project and worked on UX designs as well.


Users

Who we designed for

  • Local IBM engineers, marketers, and designers
  • Traveling IBM employees
  • Visiting clients



What were the problems:

We interviewed dozens of IBM employees, several worked in the Munich center. These are a few of the findings from our research...


  • Varying forms of identification needed
  • Hard to find security offices
  • Munich badge reader does not recognize US IBM badges only global
  • When working off hours (due to time zone differences) locals may not be around the office to help if a problem arises
  • Difficult to find resources like supplies or printing access
  • AV system are complex and without instructions
  • Elevators are hard to use, must use building specific badge
  • Hard to understand phones, the text is in German
  • Locating meeting rooms is difficult because they have specific names, ex "Blaze"

Design priorities

Why were these problems important 

When faced with these findings our team our team identified key priorities of our users. 

  • Basic navigation and accomplishing primary needs
  • Finding resources, spaces and supplies
  • Local knowledge to bypass “on-boarding phase”
  • The space works for the way they work
  • Maintenance and cleanliness
  • Contribute to overall atmosphere because this is “theirs”
  • Communication and transparency into site activity is priority



Solution

How we solved the problem

Our solution focused on addressing the key priorities for our users. We used "Hills" as a framework for our solution. Key points of our solution were:


Sketches and user flows

Wireframes

Final solution

The workplace application was designed and developed by my team. Our visual designer and FEDs coded the solution. We collaborated remotely with the backend technical team in Germany as they installed the sensors on each floor and connected our application to the devices. 

P R E S S   R E L E A S E


Final takeaways

What did I learn?

This was my first assignment after joining IBM and it was a great learning experience. If I were to do it again, I would've gathered more sponsor users that worked and visited the Munich Center. After the project finished, there were details about the building flow that would have been useful to consider. 

The most valuable part of this project was collaborating with a multinational design, development and engineering team on a tight deadline. It was difficult integrating so many data sources into one application under our timeline. I enjoyed the process and it prepared me for more collaborations like this. 


Using Format