Background:

Zywave was looking to quickly enter the market for employee training as a part of the Client Cloud Suite. Initially, product management chose to integrate with a 3rd party vendor for Learning Management functionality. I was brought on the product when the team was struggling. The 3rd party solution did not fit the needs of users. The 3rd party product integration was usability tested and failed in several important areas. The tech lead, business analyst, and I worked together to design a custom MVP solution and map out customer pain points on a journey map. We then advocated for two extra weeks of development to the leadership team. Through weekly prototype testing, we further refined the roadmap as the software product sold at rates higher than projected.

Actions:

• Usability test

• Qualitative prototype user interviews

• Journey mapping

• Whiteboard facilitation

• Requirement validation

Insights:

• The management of courses by HR and brokers was a key pain point of the third party solution

• Non-standard learning management workflows were essential for the customer’s use cases

• Integration with other Client Cloud software products was essential for navigation to the Learning Management System

Result:

What started as a $500k cost became $1.5 million in profit. This product transformed from struggling to successful because of product team collaboration, exacting focus on MVP features for launch, and leadership that valued employee insight.