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Message: <table width="402" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <tr> <td width="1" bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td> <td width="10"> </td> <td width="380"><h1 style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; color: #353535; font-weight: 200;">Envisioning an integrated future</h1> <div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: #353535; margin: 15px 0 0 0; Letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 170%;"><p>MSN UK (Microsoft Network) operates a range of information and communication services including Hotmail, Messenger, and a news and entertainment portal. As technology advances, growing user expectations and an increasingly diverse offering prompted MSN to ask for Engine’s help. Our challenge was to identify ways to make MSN’s offer more cohesive by assessing the experiences provided and putting together an achieveble proposition driven both by MSN’s needs and those of its customers. Engine embarked on a process of discovery, definition, and envisioning. </p> <p> In the discovery phase we investigated the existing business by mapping its services, interviewing senior managers, and reviewing aspects of MSN UK’s strategy. This helped us to understand the important objectives, challenges, and opportunities in each service and business area. </p> <p> <img src="http://engine.pmhclients.com/images/uploads/serv_map.jpg" alt="image" width="365" height="95" /> <br /> <span class="image-description">Visualising the flow of the on-line portal.</span> </p> <p> We audited the user experiences offered by the services, keeping an eye out for inconsistencies and opportunities. Important too was an understanding of MSN’s target users; we conducted interviews as part of familiarising ourselves with MSN’s audiences - including their perceptions of MSN’s services and brand. Finally we looked externally for information on the competition, and sought inspiration from unrelated businesses providing the world’s best customer experiences. </p> <p> <img src="http://engine.pmhclients.com/images/uploads/prop_dev.jpg" alt="image" width="365" height="122" /> <br /> <span class="image-description">Linking elements into a rich proposition</span> </p> <p> With this information we entered the definition phase, looking at how services could be linked to each other and to customers, adding value for all parties. Through workshops we produced dozens of ideas for both incremental enhancements and more fundamental improvements. These included new forms of monetisation, ways for services to work across different devices and platforms, and means of harnessing potential new partners - all while empowering customers by improving access to valued information and services. </p> <p> We assembled many of these thoughts into one big idea: an evolution of MSN’s current services - offering richer, more useful experiences, deeper relationships, and more opportunities for revenue generation. We created colourful compelling visual user journeys, envisioning future users’ experiences to tangibly demonstrate the ways in which they benefit customers and the company. </p> <p> <img src="http://engine.pmhclients.com/images/uploads/prop_elements.jpg" alt="image" width="365" height="90" /> <br /> <span class="image-description">Visualising stages of a user journey</span> </p> <p> Engine provided MSN UK with both a cohesive, customer-enabling big idea, and the initial steps towards it. The project is currently being used to inspire and excite local and global business areas about the next phase of development of the customer experience. <br /> </p></div> <a style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: #ea3300; text-decoration: none;" href="http://engine.pmhclients.com/projects/pcs_page/envisioning_an_integrated_future">View article here</a> </td> <td width="10"> </td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td> </tr> </table>
MSN UK (Microsoft Network) operates a range of information and communication services including Hotmail, Messenger, and a news and entertainment portal. As technology advances, growing user expectations and an increasingly diverse offering prompted MSN to ask for Engine’s help. Our challenge was to identify ways to make MSN’s offer more cohesive by assessing the experiences provided and putting together an achieveble proposition driven both by MSN’s needs and those of its customers. Engine embarked on a process of discovery, definition, and envisioning.
In the discovery phase we investigated the existing business by mapping its services, interviewing senior managers, and reviewing aspects of MSN UK’s strategy. This helped us to understand the important objectives, challenges, and opportunities in each service and business area.
Visualising the flow of the on-line portal.
We audited the user experiences offered by the services, keeping an eye out for inconsistencies and opportunities. Important too was an understanding of MSN’s target users; we conducted interviews as part of familiarising ourselves with MSN’s audiences - including their perceptions of MSN’s services and brand. Finally we looked externally for information on the competition, and sought inspiration from unrelated businesses providing the world’s best customer experiences.
Linking elements into a rich proposition
With this information we entered the definition phase, looking at how services could be linked to each other and to customers, adding value for all parties. Through workshops we produced dozens of ideas for both incremental enhancements and more fundamental improvements. These included new forms of monetisation, ways for services to work across different devices and platforms, and means of harnessing potential new partners - all while empowering customers by improving access to valued information and services.
We assembled many of these thoughts into one big idea: an evolution of MSN’s current services - offering richer, more useful experiences, deeper relationships, and more opportunities for revenue generation. We created colourful compelling visual user journeys, envisioning future users’ experiences to tangibly demonstrate the ways in which they benefit customers and the company.
Visualising stages of a user journey
Engine provided MSN UK with both a cohesive, customer-enabling big idea, and the initial steps towards it. The project is currently being used to inspire and excite local and global business areas about the next phase of development of the customer experience.
