Disrupting connectivity

A converged network concept.

Role: Design Director
Business design & Strategic design, Creative direction

A bit of background

 

In 2017…

 

We launched Xfinity Mobile, as a companion to, but separate from our core internet offering.

Customers have to have Xfinity Internet in order to buy Mobile, but they’re still separate products—bought, managed and used separately.

 

Today

 

Xfinity continues to take steps to unify digital experiences across the product portfolio.

But our hero products are still separate.

Siloed Networks: Home Internet, Mobile, and WiFi hotspots have their own performance issues and don’t work together.

Gated Access: Consumers have to wait for install to get access.

Complex Attributes: Consumers are forced to choose how much speed, coverage, and data they need.

Rigid subscriptions: Internet is tied to a home address, limiting personalization and introducing security trade-offs.

 

Looking to the future

 

We sought to define how Comcast could differentiate our flagship connectivity product in a saturated market.

  • Challenge

    Internet is everywhere, but the rules for getting and staying online are different across Mobile and Broadband, and the burden to find and keep the best connection is always on the consumer.

    • 85% of consumers recognize that switching between wifi and 5g is work

  • Insight

    Consumer increasingly expect products to work together without having to stitch them together themselves, and when it comes connectivity, their behaviors underscore the need for a more powerful network performance.

    • Ecosystem Interoperability cited as adoption driver

    • Mobile & streaming devices drive 10x more data usage in home vs. computers

  • Opportunity

    Deliver a magically simple product experience designed for the future of connectivity

    Top line business goals:

    • 3X increase in Mobile lines

    • 10% increase in Broadband relationships

 

Bridging business strategy and product strategy

In light of strategic shifts converging our product experiences, the business agreed there was a need for an innovation design team to spearhead this work.

I led the team, working as one with our product partners.

 

Design
Gina Swindler, Design Director
Max Whitehead, Sr Designer
Christiana Yiallourides, Sr Content Strat
Patrick Widen, Lead Designer

Product & Business
Rui Costa, VP Product
Kohposh Kuda, VP Connectivity & Convergence
Josh Gerber, Executive Director
Phillip Le, Executive Director
Adam Trageser, Director

Technology
Colleen Szymanik, Distinguished Engineer
Teddy El-Rashidy, Principal WiFi Engineer

Research
Jess McGinley, Research Director

 

Our process

  • App icons for Xfinity's 11 apps

    Product vision

    We developed a disruptive converged connectivity solution with an actionable MVE

    I partnered with product to define a strategy and write requirements

    • Opportunity definition

    • Strategic narrative

    • MVE requirements

  • App icon for one Xfinity App

    Experience strategy

    We mapped the new E2E customer journey, elevated experience requirements and identified gaps

    I coached my team in experience definition

    • End-to-end journey impact map

    • Tech feasibility

  • The top 5 jobs: Connect, Protect, Entertain, Empower, Reward

    Design craft

    Designed a concept experience vision for One Network

    I worked hands-on to direct the vision concept

    • Key enabler definition

    • Consumer value research

Our innovation framework

We work as one with our product partners to identify & define new product concepts for differentiation

Through this process, we crafted a concept for a unified network.

Meet Xfinity One.

 
 

The first network to unite the best in-home WiFi and the most reliable 5G.

It’s instant
Get connected in minutes from anywhere.

It’s always on
Stay connected, no matter what happens when Broadband, WiFi and 5G work as layers of backup in the event of an outage or poor connection.

It’s intelligent
Enjoy the best connection no matter what you’re doing, automatically.

 

We brought the experience to life in key moments across the customer journey.

 
 

Discovering a new network

Today, it takes hours to sign up for internet and mobile service and days to get set up and connected. We designed an experience where customers can sign up and connect in minutes.

New customers can learn what makes the new unified network unique and how it works. When they’re ready, they can subscribe in just a few taps.

 
 

Identifying key enablers behind the scenes

As a part of this work, we identified key capabilities driving the experience for initial tech feasibility vetting to ensure we could make this concept a reality. 

We discovered we could leverage app clip technology to understand two key things we needed to know about the customer to enable this super simple and instant connect experience.

 
 

1. Nearby connectivity health check

Understanding if there are enough network nodes near the customer to have a good connection without the need for additional hardware

 

2. eSIM detection

Understanding if the customer’s phone is eSIM enabled and eligible to download 5G access the moment they sign up

 

Instantly connected

After confirming network strength and eSIM compatibility in the background, we can auto-connect the new customer’s phone to the new network as soon as they subscribe. 

As a part of this project, we also explored ways to simplify and expedite onboarding. I designed a simple experience for customers to bring their phone number to their new network, auto-connect the rest of their home devices, and share their subscription with family, friends or roommates.

 
 

Outcomes

The Xfinity One program inspired leadership across the company to make structural changes that championed innovation and created space for it to thrive.

 
 
 

Created consumer value alignment across product, innovation and technology teams

Emerging products & technology organization

Design innovation team

 

We are currently defining and validating an MVE experience that grants customers instant access to a unified network

3 key promises

25 customer proof points

32 super epics