Understanding and defining user needs for an AI-enabled RPA tool. Summer 2019.
The Problem Small-to-Medium Business (SMB) employees spend too much time completing mundane, non-core, repetitive tasks at work. These tasks range from emailing, to answering phone calls, scheduling, and invoicing. As technology in AI/Automation improves and starts creeping up in our daily life, Buck.AI aims to disrupt by understanding how an AI-enabled RPA tool can be used to increase efficiency, decrease human error, and cut costs.
The Solution 4-week long project beginning with 2 weeks focused on interviewing SMB service professionals. Insights and recommendations were given based on observations through interviews.
My Role UX Researcher
Tools Markers, Sticky Notes, Figma, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and a phone.
Goal Discover and understand customer pain points and needs for automation.
Approach
I held a kick-off meeting with Buck.AI’s COO to learn more about the company, product, target audience, and general knowledge of competitors. After the meeting, I mapped out a project scope and timeline of deliverables.
Methodology
User Interviews
I interviewed 10 SMB Service Professionals recruited from social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Elpha). Due to the short length of the project, I conducted all interviews in a week and a half. Our participant characteristics were:
Service Professional (plumbers, dentist, realtor, nail tech, etc.)
Owns/Manager position at an small-to-medium business
No geographical/gender/sex/religion/age/education constraints
Performs mindless/boring repetitive tasks that can be easily automated (the owner may not perform, but these tasks exist in the business)
Doesn’t need to have understanding of RPA or AI/Automation
Work already digital in some way
“It’s a pain in my ass!”
The interview script I created revolved around our participant’s day-to-day activities. Focusing on repetitive tasks they complete hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/annually. Examples of questions include, “how do you keep track of these repetitive tasks?”, “which digital tools do you already use?”, “how do you feel while doing these small repetitive tasks?”, and “how do you communicate with customers?”
The longest interview clocked in at 1 hour and 31 minutes while the shortest one was just around 22 minutes by phone.
Affinity map with over 15 unique clusters. Sticky notes are really a designer’s best friend.
Personas
After synthesizing my research and covering my hallway in over 150 sticky notes, I created the following two personas.
During my interviews it was apparent that were was a division between decision maker and user, thus the creation of two personas. Petra, a small business owner, represents a hybrid between user and decision maker. Melissa, the CFO, is mainly a decision maker and would not be using Buck.AI as much as her team of accountants or support team.
Solutions
I set out to create a hybrid customer journey/service blueprint. You can follow the journey of Petra’s customer setting up a nail appointment in the top half. The bottom half follows the steps Petra takes while interacting with her customer directly (front stage) and indirectly (backstage). I took the service map one step further by marking with a blue square all the ways Petra can benefit from Buck.AI
Insights and Recommendations
Hand-Off
Hand-off consisted of me presenting a UX research deck to the CEO, COO, PM, and UX Designer. I hardly interacted with the UX Designer, who came onto the project as another intern when I was wrapping up my research. Since I focused on the research, she focused on creating wireframes and the visual design part of the project. I was excited to present my work to her since I knew she would be better informed with my research.
Reflections
This internship was a fulfilling and informative experience for me. Buck.AI even extended a job offer to me at the end of the internship! I’m glad I was able to work with an AI/Automation/RPA company looking to stand out from its enterprise focused competitors. I learned more about AI and RPA and how this technology is looking to improve our day-to-day. Ideating about the endless capabilities of this technology fascinates and excites me.