Work
A cloud networking business was moving to subscription. The licensing had been designed by people who’d never had to switch one on, so we went to the people who did.
Customers were paying for licenses their installers couldn’t switch on.
Twenty to thirty conversations with the people doing the work, then prototypes tested with customers.
A subscription model built around how deployments really happen.
01 · The moment
An installer is at a customer’s site. The access points and cameras are in, the dashboard is open, and all that’s left is the license key.
It was emailed months earlier to whoever paid, usually someone in accounts, and nobody on site knows where it is. So the job stops: calls, waiting, sometimes a second visit.
Nobody inside the company knew how hard this was until we asked the people doing it.
02 · The gap
The business was moving from perpetual licenses to subscription. Real deployments go in floor by floor, over months, and when a plan changed, nobody could say what the customer owned.
The existing flow worked perfectly in a demo, for someone at a desk with the key in hand.
03 · Who we listened to
Before anyone drew a new model, we spent twenty to thirty conversations with the people living with the old one: installers, partners large and small, happy and unhappy customers, and the support team who took the calls.
The core team was invited to every one, or got the recording.
What we heard, in our words
04 · Everyone had an idea
Five or six product managers, product design, engineering leaders and executives each brought their own model for subscription.
Our founder’s job was to get every idea on the table and let the groups work through them together in design sprints.
Ideas are cheap and plentiful. That doesn’t make them right.
05 · What lived on
We pushed the strongest ideas further, brought them to life as prototypes and put them in front of installers and customers. Several directions were tested.
What held up fit how deployments really happen: switch on what’s installed, add more as the rollout grows. The teams who build and roll it out took it from there.
Who won?
The customer.
Once the people deciding had heard from the people doing the work, every choice after that was made with them in mind.
We’ve seen it almost every time since: the people who design a system have rarely had to do the job. You don’t know the answer until you know the problem.
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