Cloud
Cloudy Monday III: Development of cloud products for the B2C market
A Swisscom cloud for the mass market - why is that necessary? When the idea for such a product emerged in 2014, this very question was raised.
From the idea to the prototype
A Swisscom cloud for the mass market - why is that necessary? When the idea for such a product emerged in 2014, this was the very question that arose. Based on the design thinking approach, product development always starts with an understanding of the customer's need. Following this process, a needfinding (observation of the customer) was quickly planned and carried out in various Swisscom shops. Based on these findings, various solution approaches were formulated, which were taken to the Swisscom Outpost in Silicon Valley. In the Outpost, the idea was first scrutinised, challanged with other companies and tested and discussed with customers in many different forms. Based on the positive feedback, the decision was finally made to create a proof of concept.
There were two options for the proof of concept: Either develop the prototype ourselves or use existing solutions from suppliers. In order to keep the costs low, an attempt was made to find suppliers of such products. This had two advantages:
A supplier/product evaluation could be carried out directly with the customer and it was possible to quickly test the basic features of the product idea with the customer.
The biggest challenge in this phase was to ensure an independent survey of customers so that this would not prove to be a "self-fulfilling prophecy" in retrospect. Here it became clear that no provider was able to completely fulfil the customers' requirements - but the basic idea met with a great deal of interest. Another important aspect was the rapid iteration of the prototypes and the subsequent testing. Here it became particularly clear how valuable the collaboration of team members who are trained in user experience and visual design is.
From prototype to Nova product
As no provider was able to fulfil the most important customer requirements, it was decided to enter into a kind of co-creation with a small owner-managed software company. Swisscom is the customer, but the product belongs to both. The iterative approach, which was already practised on the user experience (UX) side, was supplemented on the development side by SCRUM as an agile development method.
It was important to clearly prioritise the customers' needs. The prioritisation was mainly determined on the basis of hypotheses and customer surveys. To do this, the product had to be reduced to an MVP. The decision to focus on photos was a very important decision in the process. In contrast to contact data, photos allow stories to be told. Although the customers rated contact data higher in the evaluation, the sustainable use of the prototypes with photos was higher. Since our goal was not to achieve as many downloads as possible, but rather as many app uses (customer opens app) per month, the use case with the photos was more suitable for us than the potentially more successful short-term contact case (backup of contact data).
Once a customer need has been identified, it is important to bring the product to market quickly and develop it further together with the customer. A staggered opening helps enormously with scaling and product development. It is important to measure and continuously analyse activities so that customers are not constantly bothered with surveys. This also allows the measurement of KPIs.
The biggest challenge in this phase was clearly focussing on a few functions that are expected from a personal cloud. The huge competition in this market (iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Photos, etc.) led to very high expectations. Painful prioritisation decisions had to be made in order to quickly provide customers with a usable product. Despite numerous customer tests and prototypes developed, this was no easy task, as the results were not always clear-cut.
From Nova product to product
The release of the product in a Nova (beta) version brought with it a phase of maturation. Thanks to the growth, the systems could be tested for their technical weaknesses. The processes for operation, support and development had to be set up and harmonised. In addition, the core team was expanded, which resulted in an increased coordination effort.
The challenge in this phase was to make the product stable, performant and ready for operation. At the same time, however, functional gaps had to be closed and new innovations incorporated into the product. Here, it is crucial to give the team a vision for the future and to regularly adapt and communicate it. In self-organised teams, this is the only way to ensure that all team members are working towards the same and the right goal. It was also important to introduce only as many processes as necessary.
myCloud development process
Deployment process myCloud
The conclusion after more than three years of cloud product development: it is and remains a super exciting field of activity. Many of the experiences gained in this project are very rare on this scale and at this speed. Introducing a software product of this size is rare in Switzerland and has taught the team many lessons. Four of these should be mentioned here:Entrepreneurial freedomIt is important that such a project is given a great deal of freedom - the decisions should be made by the employees. This motivates the team to take responsibility and provides additional motivation.
Iterative approachMoving forward in small steps and only planning for the next few weeks has proved successful. This was particularly the case because we received user feedback so often and so promptly.
Staggered openingIn order to obtain user feedback early on and to be able to scale the software gradually, the staggered opening has proved very successful. With a big bang, the risk of disaster would have been very high.
People over processIn order to make efficient use of resources, it is important to hold as few processes and meetings as possible. If the communication between the team is right, the information almost always flows to the right places. If not, it makes sense to introduce a process. A simple, clear process that enables self-organisation is crucial. More extensive processes such as those used in large companies should be avoided.
Abdurixit Abduxukur
Cloud Solution Architect
More getIT-articles
Ready for Swisscom
Find the job or career to suit you. A career where you can make a difference and continue your personal development.
What you do is who we are.