Enhancing the Learning and Onboarding Experience for Azure Arc Users

What is Azure Arc?

Arc is a hybrid cloud management solution within the Azure ecosystem that allows organizations to manage resources and applications across multi-cloud, on-premises, and edge environments.

The team and my role

I worked as a Product Designer for Arc, collaborating with fellow Designers, Researchers, PMs, and Software Engineers.

My responsibility was to redesign the "Learn More" page in Arc, to help our users access resources and aid in their introduction to Arc.

Problem

The 'Learn More' tab in Azure Arc Center currently provides a plain list of resource links, lacking guidance and hierarchy to help users easily locate critical information.

Pictured above: Screenshot of current Azure Arc 'Learn More' tab

Goal

Enhance the learning and onboarding experience for all Azure Arc users to help them make better decisions for them or their company.

Project Constraints

I faced and overcame some challenges during the project:

Rapid onboarding into a new team, product and work culture
Lack of new research, and/or usability study opportunities
Lack of KPIs and data validation
Siloed work environment

Process Overview

DISCOVER THE GOAL

Research
User Roles
Problem and Needs

DEFINE THE PROBLEM

Problem statement
User flows & journey

DESIGN A SOLUTION

Propose a Solution
Get Feedback & Iterate
Test!!

Scroll to explore the full process, or click here to jump to the final outcome and key learnings.

Discover

First I wanted to understand the purpose and 'why' of Azure and Arc to be able to identify who this product is for, the frustrations they encounter and what the solutions could be. I used this statement, found during research, as a guiding path to lead my design decisions.

"We want customers to choose Azure because it is simple, and it just works"

Azure wants to be the door to the cloud and Arc is the bridge that brings multiple stack together. Customers loved the capabiities of the product but had a hard time troubleshooting. Any time they encountered a question or doubt in their flow, they would be presented with a a lot of in depth documentation.

Research

I researched Cloud computing, Azure, and Azure Arc to gain comprehensive insights into the product ecosystem.
I conducted a SWOT analysis and competitor research to analyze various approaches in addressing onboarding and learning flows within similar platforms, within our own product and the competitors.
I leveraged prior findings and the vast knowledge my team had about the product, in addition to actively seeking insights from other teams. This involved engaging with developers, researchers, directors, and PMs to gather diverse viewpoints and ensure a comprehensive understanding of primary user roles, prevalent needs, and pain points.

Pictured above are some research deliverables I created

Users

From the research insights I was able to focus on the primary users of the product and their pain points.

Potential Arc users trying to understand the value in the product.
New Arc users seeking guidance on how to get started and maxime the utility of Arc's resources.
Existing users looking for specific resources catered to their current needs.

I decided to focus on users in their first 15 days of the onboarding journey. Experiences in this time frame can have a huge impact on long-term retention.

Day 0

First impressions
Biggest risk of abandonment

Day 1-7

60-80% of users abandon products in the first week of sign up, if it doesn't meet their needs

Who are they?

Business/IT decision makers

They decide if Arc the right solution for them

Implementers
(developers, cloud architects,etc.)

They implement Arc as a solution

Problems

Flexibility and efficiency of use
Unknown expectations from resources and space

Needs

Discoverability of resources
Customized guidance to a specific scenario or problem
Demo and validate examples and solutions

Define

Problem Statement

"As an inexperienced Arc user, I have trouble finding and understanding important information to decide if Arc’s services are right for my company."

What do users need?

Optimize hierarchy and layout
- Title, subtitle, and descriptions
- Visual regrouping
Reprioritize resources
- Surface useful resources

Proposed Outline

Introduction (LEARN)
Tutorials (TRY)
Support (ASK)
Feedback

DESIGN

First MVP for Learn More Tab:

Restructured the Learn More tab for better discoverability, flexibility, and efficiency.
Followed a pattern consistent with other learn patterns, incorporating an introduction, tutorials, support options, and user feedback.

Final MVP, Feedback and Iterations:

Engaged in multiple rounds of iterations based on team feedback.
Explored various resource prioritization and presentation approaches.

Expanding Beyond the Learn More Tab:

Aimed to extend the learning experience beyond the tab to the entire portal.
Posed the question: "How might we provide customized guidance to users in ALL stages of learning and different scenarios and needs?"

Future Steps

Planned to refine designs through user research and validation.
Emphasized the importance of cross-team collaboration and communication within Azure.
Advocated for inclusivity and accessibility in design, seeking input from new users.

Learnings and Reflections

Emphasized the value of sharing work early for constructive feedback.
Acknowledged the importance of communication and collaboration across teams.
Expressed a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

What's Next?

This condensed case study provides a snapshot of my journey in enhancing the Azure Arc user experience, from initial challenges to iterative solutions and future aspirations. Visuals and prototypes are available here or upon request (add link to Figma, create nice public sharaeble file) for a comprehensive portfolio showcase.