UX Leadership & Strategy
Global Digital Program
Bose’s global Web presence was scattered; different sites across the world meant inconsistent brand and product messaging, inconsistent feature sets, and no centralized design and development process.
A multi-year program to migrate everything onto a single global digital platform laid the foundation for the company's planned business growth.
I was asked to lead the UX team through this journey.
Business Challenge
Unite Bose’s scattered portfolio of regional Web sites (ecommerce, catalog, B2B, technical support, etc.) onto a single global digital platform, with the goals of providing global functional parity, consistent brand and product messaging, and business self-service capabilities.
Key program challenges included:
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A new technology platform for Bose (Adobe Experience Manager, Hybris)
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New design approaches: responsive mobile design, component-based design, global scalability considerations
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Delivery teams working in an Agile framework for the first time
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A tight timeline that superseded any site strategy, with the goal to launch the US ecommerce site on the platform in 8 months
[The Global Digital program] is a top strategic initiative for Bose that is laying the foundation for a shared global e-commerce experience as we launch additional sites, and will positively impact our business for years to come.
- Tim Johnson, Director, Global Digital Program
Approach
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Built a centralized Scrum team of UX and design resources to support 4 parallel development teams
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Collaborated with stakeholders and other product owners to plan work increments and gather business requirements
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Educated myself and the team on responsive and global design principles
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Conducted usability evaluations of current Bose sites to prioritize design improvements for the team to focus on
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Created wireframes, site maps, and functional specifications for various page templates and site features
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Conducted usability testing to identify any major flaws in the UX design
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Collaborated with development teams to ensure high-quality implementation of UX design
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Advocated for the continuous improvement of the site post-launch, helping to identify, prioritize, and fix design bugs
Early wireframe showing new product tile grid approach on multiple screen sizes.
Results
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Successful site launch on time, surpassing realistic expectations
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Consistent brand, product presentation, and customer experience globally, with the ability to regionalize content, product portfolios, and feature sets as needed
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Significant cost savings internally, via single sources of global design, development, and site deployment
With a simplified top navigation structure and a focus on featured products and categories, the new home page provided a much improved launching point into the research and purchase journey.
Design Team Credits
Christophe Gilen & Pete Forget (visual design), Alexis Vaccarino & Chris Bransfield (UX support), Mike Frascolla (copywriting)