Solution by STC

The ask was to design and build a delightful experience for its B2B customers and bring to market a new customer experience for its digital touch-points, self-care and corporate.

Client

STC, Kuwait

Project Duration

20 weeks

Responsibilities

SME interviews, Competitive Analysis, Wireframes, Visual Designs

Process

A six-week of constant collaboration and remote co-creation of immersion and foundation phase allowed the team to become familiar with the product catalogue, internal challenges, ambitious future plans and the desired north-star experience that solution by STC wants to deliver.

During the process, we conducted 16 stakeholder interviews and indulged in 5 conversations with the product managers of the B2B unit to fully understand their strategy and product road map. We performed strategic competitive landscape assessment along with defining the archetypes in-detail and also focused on their positioning.

Challenge

Our biggest challenge was to build trust and alignment in the globally distributed team, where we had 40+ people working on the project from design to development to clients, spread across 7 locations at 4 different timezones. Our focus was to enable individuals to communicate openly in a safe environment and provide the utmost transparency on product vision and business goals.

Distributed model for product delivery at scale

Approach

Teams crafted and re-imagined STC and its correlated self-care touchpoints across a new mobile application, a responsive web portal and digital kiosks. In parallel, we translated the new Branding into Digital Guidelines, consolidated in an expansive Design Language System for future evolution, and we set a broader strategic direction for B2C and B2B channels. The experience touches every single customer in the STC portfolio.

We ensured the team truly understands what we are building and for whom, and to always operate with the user's perspective in mind.

Strategic Foundation

A clear value proposition of the new merged offering, that informs the offering and digital needs of your customers, and how to differentiate from local competitors.

Go-To-Market Strategy

There is a need to become more granular when it comes to designing and building for B2B customers; while their company size or product preferences can be similar, their behaviours and needs can uncover more about their digital needs. So, we uncovered the digital needs required to understand the 7 main customer archetypes.

STC B2B Archetypes
Archetypes take in to consideration the customer segment, however, are based on behaviours and needs.

Competitive Landscape

Telco B2B is highly competitive and saturated for traditionalists

Local Competitions: Most local competitors are providing traditional connectivity and fixed services in with a product-centric approach.

International Competitors: Leading-edge international competitors, like Verizon, are providing the new B2B offerings with a curated customer-focused approach, but not the rest.

New Entrants / Substitutes: Certain innovative companies are offering cloud services and industry-specific IoT solutions in a truly customer-focused way.

While competitors focus on diversity of products and services to cover the market needs, solution by stc has the opportunity to disrupt traditional Telco in the Middle East by launching innovative offerings in Kuwait by using digital touchpoints to serve the mass-market needs through new innovative delivery channels.

Archetype Prioritization

Focusing on key customer archetypes

Experience Principles

Experience principles are our guidelines for delivering a clear value proposition, ensuring a high quality and consistent experience for all users who engage with solution by stc.

We took the research from the consumer platform and the design principles that emerged and adapted them for the B2B customer needs. New design principles were required to convey the stage in which solution by stc is today, and the future combined offering.

Built for boldness

We focus on everyday needs and deliver in new ways–we grow together with your business. We thrive with large challenges, and bold asks. We deliver when we customize innovative solutions for you.

Hyper-aware of every need

We are conscious of what you are looking for and constantly one step ahead. We are proactive, and only prompt you with what fits you.

Designed for autonomy

We make things easy and speak your language. We empower you with tools, guidance, and support so you can avoid too many processes.

The principles informed the digital strategy across six dimensions

Relevance of offerings

Presenting the products and offerings in a compelling, disrupting way, where customers find exactly what they need, and through a new delivery channel

Tone of voice and brand consistency

A bold brand that speaks to enterprise decision-makers, and to the end-customer alike. A tone of voice that is simply and clearly to everyone.

Built for boldness

Approach to customization

A system that prompts the customer for information to learn more before showing too many possibilities. A smart experience that only offers customization when necessary.

Quality of customer support

A proactive sales approach with smart lead generations and customized ways of engaging new potential customers. Digital-first and digital-always.

1

Hyper-aware of every need

2

Discoverability & access to offering

Clear categorization of products, where customers can quickly navigate to what they need and see themselves reflected in each part of the experience.

User autonomy and access to self-care

Easy to access and self-explanatory admin experience that customers can take care of most of their everyday mobility and fixed needs without requiring assistance.

Designed for autonomy

3 Outcome

The COVID-19 pandemic hit right at the beginning of the design & development phase, undermining an already complex program setup. Planned colocations, business trips, aimed to catalyze working relations and methods, were cancelled. People moved to work from home, managing personal and family needs on top of the program demands.

We had to discover a new way of collaborating, making empathy and resilience our best qualities.

The storm will pass. But the choices we made are changing our working style for years to come.

Informing the roadmap

Creating a future digital vision of what the B2B experience can be, allows the stc team to visualize what the product can become after the first MVP launch and how the business strategy leads the UX strategy and the whole digital experience.

Design Concepts

The future vision of what solutions by stc can be, and how can digital touchpoints, will enable a new, rich experience.

We started by bringing a vision to life to inform the roadmap and the design system.

Setting a foundation for the sprints

A design concept allows the team to analyze which components need to be created and uncover the specific design requirements of B2B ecosystems. The design concept paves the road and prepares the essentials for the sprint design work.

The next thing that popped into our heads was, “How to deliver through digital features?”

Mom & Pop Shop

Activate with promotions and then expand to other lines of business

Unicorn Startup

Use cross-sell and up-sell to increase average order value

Traditional Bulk Buyer

Improve the efficiency and drive loyalty

Scaled Enterprises

Delight with service and reward loyalty

Accessible bundles for fixed and mobility products

A new way of presenting the offering by combining fixed and mobility products into simple off-the-shelf bundles. Customers will be able to easily discover the packages, choose the one that fits best, and place an order. Companies with customization needs can book an appointment and choose when to be called back by the sales team.

Built for boldness

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Mom & Pop Shop

Customization of bundles online and by the user

A transparent, autonomous way of allowing users to customize their bundles by choosing the settings for each category: internet, voice, collaboration tools, etc. This customization step shows the available products, elevates that the customer can buy multiple licenses, and shows in real time the expected cost per for all the selected services.

Built for boldness

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Traditional Bulk Buyer

Navigation per industry type and company size

A cross-site navigation that helps customers immediately access solutions by industry type or by the company size. The Products top-level button elevates the access to the e-store and to all the products that can be purchased directly online. A bold, customer-centric navigation is a key differentiator from competitors and avoids users having to browse through technical terminologies.

Built for boldness

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Scaled Enterprises

Celebrated product details and its benefits

A refreshed product detail page that shows the device images, the technical specs and the available plans with price in a simple, organized way. The tabbed navigation allows customers to compare devices of the same category and see side by side the technical specs and the price, including a short description of who is the product recommended for.

Hyper-aware of every need

Who is this for

Scaled Enterprises

Traditional Bulk Buyer

An industry page with sub-offerings and customer stories

As a way to elevate the customized offerings for specific industries, a detailed industry page will highlight stc's expertise within a given domain, showcasing client stories, videos, and a summarized list of technologies and tailored solutions available. This dedicated page will position stc as the ideal partner for complex solutions within a specific industry.

Hyper-aware of every need

Who is this for

Scaled Enterprises

Traditional Bulk Buyer

Smartly recommended add-on products

Along the product details, the customer will be able to see contextually-relevant product recommendations. The add-ons are suggested based on the type of product the customer is viewing at the moment. These recommendations will increase cross-selling and engage customers towards purchase.

Hyper-aware of every need

Who is this for

Scaled Enterprises

Traditional Bulk Buyer

Easy sign up and account creation for new customers

Having customers sign up before having an account with stc increases the acquisition conversion rate and the amount of inbound leads that come from the website. An online sign up allows stc to gather further information from the customer before speaking to them, potentially saving time from the pre-sales team.

Designed for autonomy

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Scaled Enterprises

A fully digital onboarding experience

As customers sign up, a step-by-step flow will walk them through setting up their account, selecting products that fit their company size, ending with signing the contract online. This removes the need of printing paper contracts, or sending a person to the client’s site. The e-signature feature will allow contract renewals for existing customers.

Designed for autonomy

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Scaled Enterprises

Bill analysis with insights and saved preferences

A self-care dashboard to have oversight across fixed and mobility services, highlighting the usage, cost, and consumption of each. The customer can analyse their invoice and get insights of any changes over time, proactively prompting them to set auto-pay functionalities or saved preferred payment methods.

Designed for autonomy

Who is this for

Scaled Enterprises

Traditional Bulk Buyer

Proactive notifications across touchpoints

An integrated experience to notify the customer with meaningful notifications whenever there is an important opportunity for an upgrade or an upcoming contract renewal. Creating transparency through proactive messaging can help the customer feel more engaged with stc, and attached to the digital experience.

Designed for autonomy

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Scaled Enterprises

Customer support beyond conventional channels

Customer support can be extended outside of the website by integrating with different messaging services such as WhatsApp or Messenger, in order to reach the client in an easy, conversational approach. Providing support in mobile touchpoints even in a responsive web approach can reduce the total amount of incoming support tickets for the operations team.

Designed for autonomy

Who is this for

Unicorn Startup

Mom & Pop Shop

Video-support to help and educate the customer

Using video calls as a way to troubleshoot with customers will reduce the amount of email requests the operation teams receive, as well as educating customers of how to solve specific problems or access advanced features by themselves in the future.

Designed for autonomy

Who is this for

Scaled Enterprises

Traditional Bulk Buyer

Empowering the end user on-the-go

As a way to lighten the load of requests that company admins receive, the B2B platform can leverage the consumer app functionalities to provide access to end customers. This allows them to purchase packages or pay for a device upgrade out of pocket. A business mobile app, with additional advanced features, can create a new sales channel and potentially yield a higher ROI from large enterprises.

Designed for autonomy