Supplier Collaboration & Innovation
CASE STUDY
I joined Vizibl as the first product designer with the responsibility to build a new SAAS product, with the team, for large enterprises to manage their most strategic relationships on.
In the early days we had a prototype of the product that we were using with potential customers to run a pilot programme with. The goal was to learn as much as we could around the business and the challenges, but at the same time design it with some of these companies in mind as our first customers.
I ran workshops and ideation sessions to find the key learnings and then decided with the team how we moved the product on and prioritised certain areas.
Coming from an agency background at the time, this was a hugely exciting point in my career. I enjoyed focusing on one product but also had to adapt quickly due to the fast pace of the build and my role covering everything creative coming out of the company, not just the product design.
Company
Vizibl
Roles
Head of Product Design
Key Responsibilities
Product Design
UX Design
UI Design
User Research
Usability testing
The First Product Designer
INTRODUCTION
Evolution of the Platform
& the Brand
PRODUCT MARKET FIT
Over four years, the platform evolved from the early prototype as we worked closely with more customers.
Working with large customers in the early days whilst building out the product was good for close feedback. A we started to understand the where the sweet spot was and where the usage was coming from, it enabled us to become more prescriptive in the way customers should use the platform.
We broke the platform into 3 key sections, Align, Engage and Grow. This framing allowed us to package up the product and position it easier.
Partnering with Tomorrow Street
MY APPROACH
A really exciting part of the journey was partnering with Tomorrow Street, an innovation centre that is a joint venture between the Vodafone Procurement Company and Technoport. Tomorrow Street focuses on scaling startups through the power of Vodafone’s global network.
This opened up a great network of customers but also people to talk to throughout the Vodafone orgnisation in how we shaped the product. During this time I spent a lot of time in Luxenbourg talking to users and shaping the product as a result.
This taught me how to talk to people about roles and jobs and how to dig into where their challenges were. It also taught me how to build up a network of users across customers to act as and advisory board of the product and design to help us steer ides and features.
Outcomes & Achievements
along the way
OUTCOMES
Vizibl was one of the most challenging periods of my career so far. Navigating from a pure digital designer to being a product designer across the whole product was a huge learning curve. I designed the product from the ground up and it was such an achievement to have amazing customers who relied on it to manage their most strategic suppliers with.
Key Achievements included;
Built out a small talented design team
Customers included Heineken, AstraZeneca, Vodafone, Sanofi
Led the company to Series A round of 4m investment
Created a new Gartner category ‘Supplier Collaboration and Innovation
Recognised as a cool vendor by Gartner
