Scaling Design Excellence
Building In-House Design Expertise for Growth
Background
PGi was looking to transform itself as a company and expand beyond the audio conferencing space it was competing in. The profits on audio minutes were compressing and the company was looking for growth opportunities in online collaboration. PGi began reselling partner web conferencing and paring it with their audio services. While this was creating growth, it was clear that revenue opportunities could be even more lucrative if PGi was developing and selling their own collaboration software. They acquired small companies that had technologies and services that would give them a head start. However, they lacked the creative design expertise that would be necessary to be successful.
The Challenge
When I was hired at PGi, the company was outsourcing all of their design needs to an external agency and design studio. This was not sustainable from a growth and cost standpoint. More importantly though, to be successful they needed to have core competencies like product design in-house. The company CEO and CTO looked to me to oversee the work that was being outsourced and take responsibility over the design of iMeet, its new personal web conferencing product suite.
The Result
My first year was spent supporting the product road map and personally delivering on user interface and user experience enhancements. I was also shepherding the iMeet brand that had been established.
To support the volume of work that need to be accomplished, I began recruiting designs and established the Product Design team within PGi. That team grew to two creative directors and four product designers working on the user experience and user interface of our SaaS product portfolio. Over time those products would include iMeet, GlobalMeet, Agenday and Sales Accelerator.
The Product Design team is currently thriving. I have established a design team culture and processes that have made a measurable difference for PGi. My efforts have greatly contributed to the company transforming itself from providing audio only solutions to a SaaS software provider generating an $85 million annual revenue run-rate. My efforts have directly affected the ability for the company to grow business, save money and provide value to their customers.
The Design Team
Bill Victor, Rishi Kaneria, Atu Nii-Owoo, Leif Andersen, Herson Rodriguez, Therese Mushock, David Kovalev
Agencies
Unit9
MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER
My Responsibilities
Design team management
Design direction
Product strategy
Research & Discovery
Critiques & reviews
Resource recruiting and hiring
Design operations
Stakeholder and executive partner
Agency direction
Meeting Room
Face to face meetings. iMeet was the perfect meeting solution for personal, imitate, small meetings.
Desktop App
Instant meetings from the desktop app and the hub for all your iMeet applications. We expanded iMeet to include messaging, presence, VoIP calling and more.
iOS, iPad, Android
Meetings on the go. Easy to us, high quality audio meetings from anywhere.
iMeet Marketing Campaign
The Product Design department partnered with PGi Marketing and Sales on many lead generation and marketing campaigns. We supported our partners and colleagues by providing application screens, UX writing, product guidance and consultation. This video example highlights iMeet’s capabilities and lets potential customers see the product in action.