Asset Lifecylce management

Context

This was a strategic piece of research to improve the online presence of the IBM's Asset Lifecyle management solution and to understand buyers needs.

Asset lifecyle management refers to the management of assets from when they are procured to the end of their lifecycle when they are disposed or decommissioned.

Challenge: Too many online entry points to the product, unfamiliar terminology & too much strolling

Based on a preliminary heuristic evlauation, what I found was a fragmented journey: 2 separate online entry points, an overload of links to click through, and long pages filled with scrolling.

Also, different industries referred to ALM by different terms, while the site relied heavily on acronyms and jargon that many buyers didn’t recognize. These issues made it unclear whether we were truly meeting our customers where they were—or offering them the information they actually needed.

My Role & Teams involved

My role:

• Planning project kickoff meeting

• Conducting competitive anlysis research

• Conducting a heuristic evaluation

• Creating a research plan

• Participant recruitoment

• Data collection & synthesis

• Reporting & socialisation of research

Team involved:

• 2 UX Designers

• 2 Marketing Executives

• 1 UX Researcher

• 2 Product Managers

Tools used:

• Mural

• EnjoyHQ

• Userinterviews

• Respondent

• Gartner reports

Research goals

Based on the heuristic evaluation and competitive analysis using different resources like Gartner, I put together a research plan. The goal of this research was to identify: 

• Potential customers and buyers journey

• Awareness of Asset lifecyle management and related terminology

• How customers navigate the product pages as they are currently offered on the website

• Challenges in navigating the online webpages and how our team could improve it.

Starting point

I began by evaluating our web presence through the lens of our target ALM buyers, seeking to understand how well it supported their goals and decision-making process. Through competitive research & heuristic evaluation, I identified critical gaps in their journey; where information was unclear, needs were unmet, and opportunities to build trust were missed. I also compared our offering to our competitors

These insights guided the creation of a north star vision rooted in real buyer behaviours and pain points, ensuring the redesigned experience addressed their needs and paved the way for stronger engagement and higher conversion rates.

Participant interviews

I recruited 8 participants through Userinterviews & Respondent. I created a participant screener to ensure we recruited the right persona profiles for this research.

I was looking for participants who worked in Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities, Sustainability and Oil & Gas. These participants included job roles as Sustainability Consultant, Data Analyst, and portfolio Manager.

I conducted interviews and also concept testing where I tested some of the design changes our team was proposing to improve the visibility and readability of the ALM solution webpages.

Summary of research interviews

8

45 minutes-Interviews & concept tests

8

Organisations

3

Personas- Asset Managers , Sustainability Managers & software purchase decision-makers

4

Industries- Oil &Gas, Sustainability & Energy & Utilities and Manufacturing

Research findings

Finding 1

Participants highly valued detailed product tours and demo videos, consistently noting that these resources allowed them to quickly assess whether the product could address their challenges. Providing this content supports faster decision-making, enhances user confidence, and drives higher engagement and adoption

Finding 2

6/8 participants approached ALM solutions by first considering their business challenges, then evaluating product capabilities and use cases. To increase engagement, the new ALM pages needed to reflect this decision-making flow, aligning content with how users naturally search for solutions and supporting more informed product evaluation

Finding 3

Research revealed that participants wanted a clearer understanding of business value, favouring concrete dollar figures over percentages to assess impact. Incorporating actual numbers into the design will better communicate value, build user confidence, and support informed decision-making, ultimately driving stronger engagement and adoption

Next steps

Based on the research findings, the design team would focus on more design iterations.

1. Research revealed that customers prioritize early visibility of dollar value and time-saved metrics.

2. By making ALM pages more interactive with videos, images, and pop-ups, and reducing text-heavy content, excessive scrolling, and unclear visuals, we can drive longer engagement, encourage more ‘hand-raising’ actions, and position the product as a high-value, high-ROI solution. By doing this, we could strengthen adoption, conversion, and market differentiation
   
   

Business impact

Validation sessions confirmed our designs met real user needs. By using these insights to align design, research, and marketing, we created a shared understanding of changes and their rationale. This evidence-based collaboration enabled strategic decisions, ensuring solutions were both user-centered and impactful for the business.