Overview

One of the most profitable sales experiments of 2019 at Hudl was the introduction of the AD Package. Traditionally, Hudl subscriptions were sold on a team-by-team basis, allowing each team to select the products and subscriptions that best suited them. The AD Package allowed schools to purchase bundled subscriptions for all of their teams at a discounted rate, promoting operational efficiency for high schools. With projections to sell 2,000 to 2,500 new AD packages in the next fiscal year, streamlining the package creation process became a priority.

Problem Statement

The manual process of building AD Packages in Hudl’s billing systems could take up to 2 hours. Due to the package request queue, a sales rep could wait up to 45 hours for the package to be built and receive an invoice to send to the customer. If left unchanged, this would result in 3,000-5,000 hours of work for the billing team and up to 110,000 hours of waiting time for sales reps and customers. Our goal was to reduce the package creation time to 30 minutes, thereby significantly cutting down on both billing team hours and customer wait times.

Users & Audience

The primary users of this new tool were the billing team and sales reps at Hudl. The end beneficiaries were the high school customers purchasing the AD Packages, who would experience faster service and quicker access to their products.

Roles & Responsibilities

As the lead UX designer, I was responsible for documenting the existing process, identifying areas for improvement, and designing the new AD Package Builder tool. The project team included myself, a billing team member, and one of our development teams. We collaborated closely, running design sprints to scope out the project and brainstorm solutions.

Scope & Constraints

The project had a tight timeline to align with the upcoming fiscal year projections. Additionally, the process involved complex, manual tasks that required precise data entry, making automation a challenging yet crucial aspect of the project.

Process

Research & Documentation: By observing a billing team member build a package, I documented the current process and tools used in manually building subscription bundles. I noted frequent program switches, the need for meticulous checks, and the potential for errors when copying and pasting information.

Process Mapping: I mapped the manual AD package building process in Figma and identified the steps that took the most time. This visual representation highlighted areas ripe for automation and efficiency improvements.

Design Sprint: We conducted exercises from Google Venture’s Design Sprint to gain a common understanding of the project scope and brainstorm potential solutions. This collaborative approach ensured that all team members were aligned and invested in the project’s success.

Prototyping & Testing: After defining the scope, we created prototypes of the AD Package Builder tool and conducted usability testing. Feedback from the billing team was crucial in refining the tool to ensure it met their needs and reduced the time required to build packages.

Development & Implementation: Working closely with the development team, we built and iterated on the AD Package Builder tool. We used a combination of automation and process improvements to achieve our time reduction goals.

Outcomes & Lessons Learned

After a quarter of prototyping, testing, and development, we successfully released the AD Package Builder tool. The time to build bundles was reduced from 2 hours to 30 minutes, significantly improving operational efficiency. We plan to integrate hardware orders into the bundle billing process in the upcoming quarters and continue to monitor the tool’s performance to ensure it meets our 30-minute target.

Reflecting on the project, I learned the importance of detailed process documentation and collaborative problem-solving. Running design sprints helped align the team and generate innovative solutions quickly. In future projects, I will continue to leverage these strategies to drive efficiency and user satisfaction.