Spectral is an augmented reality solution for industrial operators that guides them through complex industrial tasks (operational modes). With Spectral, a novice operator can learn how to assemble a machine or how to launch a production line.
Challenge
In 2022, we noticed a high level of churn and low adoption rate of HoloLens among new clients and decided to conduct extensive research to figure out what to do next.
Process
I carried Discovery process, exploring major factories in Europe. I conducted more than 100 interviews and observational studies.
Duration
September 2022 - January 2023
Role
UX Researcher
We had 2 products:
Studio
a web platform, where an industrial expert can create operational modes for managing a production line or a quality checklist for industrial control
View
a HoloLens app, through which an industrial operator can consume this content in forms of holographical guidances
…Until we realised
…that we are too far away from Product Market Fit.
Our users loved and used the Studio a lot, but HoloLens was barely used.
Our clients were not satisfied with the situation, some of them almost decided to switch to one of our competitors.
We started thinking about possible solutions and searching for answers to (too many) questions.
Studio
View
New product?
We decided that we needed to conduct an in-depth user research to better understand what to do next.
Our business goals
We wanted to achieve the following business targets:
Improve user
engagement rate
Increase number of users who use Spectral on a daily basis and reduce the churn rate
Build an easy to use product that is accessible for everyone
Reach product
market fit
Satisfy users and clients, prove ROI and reach financial targets
Setting up and conducting user research
I was very excited about the upcoming responsibility to carry the whole process from A to Z.
Workshop
First of all, I decided to conduct a series of workshops with our team (Product, Customer Success, Developers, Sales) to answer to the following questions:
I prepared some pre-workshop materials, such as user personas and JTBD, to make the stakeholders empathise with users and have some precise points of reference. Here are some of the examples.
Thanks to User personas, team members could better relate to Celine's and Pierre's tasks and goals and brainstorm more efficiently. We mapped the Jobs-to-be-done of our users, pains and gains that they might have with and without our product. That helped us prioritise the user stories and clearly map different stages of their journeys.
We came to the conclusion that HoloLens App might not be the best solution for everyone and started researching the reasons.
Field interviews and observational studies
First of all, me and my team identified different use cases that are worth to be discovered.
In collaboration with Customer Success team, I visited more than 20 factories in France, Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, and interviewed more than 150 operators and industrial experts.
The interviews were conducted across the following industries:
Aeronautics
Defense
Marine
Cosmetics
Pharmaceutics
Electrical materials
Manufacturing
Technology
Empathy
It was a long and exigent process, where me and the team faced lots of challenges. Therefore, we needed to be empathetic and flexible to overcome them:
Be smart
Most of the operators could not share problems when their supervisors were there. I had to be flexible and find different ways to interview them tête-à-tête. My knowledge of other languages proved to be useful here :D
Be trustworthy
Older generation (~50% of total participants) was very sceptical of new technologies and the idea of their habits be disrupted. They were not always eager to share. I had to build trustworthy relationship with every participant.
Be flexible
Operators are very busy, since every second is counted on the production line. I had to be precise with organization, timing and goals. Also, a lot of interviews were held on the production line, with noise, robots and machines :D
Also, there was a huge aspect of uncertainty - I didn't know exactly what I wanted to find or whether I would find a response that satisfied the stakeholders' needs. Despite, I was determined, stayed positive and optimistic.
Results
After my visits to factories, I was thoroughly analysing and synthesising the qualitative data I obtained during interviews - I created hundreds of insights in Jira Discovery and dozens of diagrams in FigJam. Based on this analysis, we:
Discovered reasons for decline
in HoloLens App use and why it wasn't the optimal solution for guiding industrial operators.
Identified a significant user problem
And determined what new product developments were required to assist users in resolving this problem.
Started developing a new product
The research allowed us understand what our users like, want, need and what makes them happy at work. Therefore, it helped us develop an AR Mobile app that better responded to user needs and significantly expanded our user base.
Gathered previously unknown industrial insights
These insights guided the development of an AR Mobile App tailored for industrial experts.
Identified new use cases
We identified unexplored use cases that would significantly enhance our ability to demonstrate ROI to clients.
The most important outcome of this research was a decision to develop a new product, an AR Mobile App for industrial operators. We came to a conclusion that Augmented Reality has lots of potential and we, Spectral, as a product, can bring lots of significant value in disruption of industry 4.0.
P.S. Factories are fun!
Lots of good memories were created and tons of new skills were acquired!
