Skyler's Portfolio

IBM SME

Project Type

Group project in a group of 5.

Deliverable

  • Website mockups
  • Final pitch

Roles

  • Interaction Design
  • Visual Design
  • UX Research

Duration

  • Aug. 2023 - Dec. 2023

BACKGROUND

Overview

Watson SME is an innovative solution designed to bridge the technology gap faced by small business owners. Developed by a team from UC Berkeley in collaboration with IBM, this product leverages the power of IBM’s virtual assistant tools to enhance business operations and customer interactions for small businesses.

INITIAL THINKING

Idea:
  • Bridging the Digital Divide
Research Methods:
  • Interviews
  • User Studies
  • Market Analysis
  • Qualitative Analysis
Target User:
  • Small business owners

IDEATION

System Mapping

Brainstorm

During the brainstorming process, we came up with ideas of how a virtual assistant could help a local business, and we categorized them into four categories: internal tools (business), external tools (customer), human connect, and personalization.

Solution Matrix

We further narrow down our ideas into disrupt, system, execute, and product to test their feasibility and how easy is it for IBM or local business to implement.

RESEARCH

Interview

Interview Summary

User

  • AI is always there to answer questions
  • “Sometimes it’s easier to ask chatbot than search for information you’re looking for on aa website”
  • Some AI models might not be designed to understand diverse languages, dialects, or cultural nuances.
  • provide quick answers and 24/7 availability, there's always that potential for misunderstandings.
  • “They’re not human and can’t resolve complex issues at this time, but they’re good for primarily simple and common issues”
  • Often shops on Etsy to support small businesses, tries to avoid AI chat boxes because they don’t really provide helpful advice or insights
  • “You can’t change the text size, have the text read out loud, or have the chat bot clarify something if you don’t understand its original wording”

Expert

  • IBM as a company is working towards more DEI
  • IBM overall has a lot of DEI initiatives, outside of within the products, we also have affinity groups and I’m pretty active in them!
  • They have weekly meeting and workshop of DEI. He came from a diverse background, so he try to incorporate DEI in all IBM products
  • What IBM is good at is that it has a lot of resources. In terms of design, the carbon design pattern and documentation guidelines are well established.

Stakeholder

  • Small businesses want something easy to implement
  • Small businesses worry about losing human interaction
  • “I work with my mom, so it would be really helpful if the digital tools have easy interface so that minimal the learning time of all member from any background for tools
  • Small businesses do not have that much expertise in AI, and feel a large gap with bigger corporations.
  • Small businesses feel the gap from large enterprises in the amount of data and speed
  • For a lot of small businesses, consumers prefer human interaction - businesses are worried about low utilization of these technologies
  • “For me, LLM is only useful when it is general purpose or large domain knowledge. Asking for info is easy, but as specific as you go, less accurate.”

Goals

Persona

Solution

Customer Facing

User Interface (UI)

The UI includes personalized and relevant prompts that guide customers through seamless integration into the business websites, with additional tools for further customization based on customer feedback. It also include auto translation feature to bridge language barrier.

Simplicity in Action

The design principle was to keep the customer interaction as simple and intuitive as possible. This allows customers with minimal technical knowledge to effectively manage and utilize the system, enhancing the business operations and customer service.

Business Owner Facing

AI and Machine Learning

Utilizing IBM Watson Discovery, the backend involves an AI-powered search engine that can extract insights from unstructured data. This is where the heavy lifting happens in terms of processing data, understanding user queries, and providing relevant responses.

Data Protection

A significant backend focus is on ensuring data privacy through encryption and secure storage solutions, thereby building trust with the users regarding their data security.

Tailored Precision & Financing

The backend also includes algorithms tailored for big enterprises and can be scaled down to suit small businesses, providing precision and customization in financial solutions and other business insights.

DESIGN

Problem Statement

Small businesses are struggling to utilize technology to its fullest capacity, with 31% of owners trying to use technology but not knowing how to use it most effectively, and 42% not using technology to its full potential.

How Might We Questions

Design Requirements

  1. Understanding Small Business Needs and Challenges
  2. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Current Solutions
  3. Determining Customization Requirements
  4. Identifying Opportunities for Revenue Generation
  5. User Experience and Accessibility
  6. User Experience and AccessibilityFeedback and Iterative Improvement
  7. Market Feasibility and Acceptance

Key Features

Design Highlights

Personalization (Customer Facing)

Tailored advice for each different customer to keep the interaction as simple as possible. Also IBM SME will respond in a more natural way rather than the chatbot we have on the market.

Business Owner facing

All the option at the backend portal are tailored toward small business owners, makes it easier for them to track revenues, track orders and other quantitative tasks. Also, IBM SME can help them schedule meeting and other automation tasks.

Auto-translation

Automatically translate the language to desired language if the customer to ensure that there is no language barrier between customers and business owners.

Wireframes

Virtual Assistant Design

NEXT STEPS

REFLECTION

Discussion

Throughout the development of Watson SME, our team engaged in continuous dialogue about the progress the project. We acknowledge that while we have made significant strides, there is still room for growth and enhancement. One such area is the user interface (UI) design. Our vision for Watson SME is to provide an interface that not only showcases the advanced capabilities of the tool but also elevates the user experience to new heights. The feedback we received from small business owners has been instrumental in identifying key areas where Watson SME can evolve, particularly in its customization features and integration processes.

As we reflect on the past semester, we are extremely proud of what we have achieved. Our dedication and collaborative efforts were celebrated as we secured second place on the final pitch day. We are excited about the potential of this project and are committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation to support the growth and success of small businesses.

Thank You for Viewing

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