Product strategy
UX design
UI design
SaaS
Discovery & Emphasize
Driving sustainability for IT
Sustainability is now a critical topic across industries. Businesses that combine digital and sustainable transformations are more likely to succeed. Many IT professionals and HPE customers want to be sustainable but lack the necessary information to reduce their IT carbon footprint.
🔎  Research
Understand potential user and their needs
Our PLM and UX teams collaborated with the research team to conduct initial user interviews, aiming to understand the specific problems we are addressing and to identify what users seek to improve in their operations related to sustainability and organizational sustainability strategies.
Tool
Survey
Demographics
  • 10 Countries in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
  • 20 various industries including government, healthcare, education, financial services, utilities and manufacturing
  • 5 segments by number of employees, > 500 as a threshold
  • 10 various IT positions (IT managers, IT director, Datacenter/Infrastructure manager and others)
  • Decision makers and influencers in IT and datacenter infrastructure decisions
The UX team specifically aimed to understand:
  • How would our existing and potential users engage with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) topics?
  • What role do our existing customers play, and how could their operations in GLCP influence their ESG strategy?
Sustainable IT Maturity

UX takeway

Practitioners of sustainable IT typically exhibit the following characteristics:

  • Formulate a sustainability strategy that permeates operations
  • Allocate funds to finance sustainable objectives
  • Regularly track sustainability KPIs
  • Use IT technologies to monitor and track sustainability indicators
Which of the following sustainability-related operational practices does your organization have in place or plan to implement in the next 2 years?

UX takeway

Identifying the specific items that our customers are seeking and the corresponding business opportunities.

What IT sustainability or efficiency metrics does your organization track? 

UX takeway

  • 2/3 of respondents use basic spreadsheets for monitoring, with another 1/3 planning to start soon.
  • More than 1/2 of respondents use non-real-time operational dashboards.
  • 2/5 of respondents use real-time operations dashboards.
  • Overall, there is a rising trend in the adoption of dashboards and visualization tools.
Define problem
Ineffective data presentation hinders the ability to provide relevant information for informed sustainability decisions and raising awareness about sustainability.
Resistance to choosing sustainable solutions in companies is primarily due to cost concerns and low prioritization in company development. The process of measuring and finding relevant sustainable ideas is perceived as lengthy and challenging.
How can we tie the data into metrics that might interest decision-makers to make eco-friendly decisions?
As an IT infrastructure provider, we are committed to social responsibility and advancing sustainability initiatives. Our design approach focuses on identifying and enhancing the organization's top priorities. Research shows that addressing sustainability involves navigating complex management layers and improving processes from hardware to software. HPE, offering end-to-end IT lifecycle services, has the opportunity to streamline sustainability efforts from awareness to implementation of solutions.
🔎  Research
Prioritize the feature and create a plan towards our north star.
Based on our research, we've identified several challenges users may face in enhancing sustainability outcomes. However, what potential value could the dashboard provide? We're shaping our approach around this inquiry. Our goal is to empower users to explore all factors contributing to high energy consumption, carbon emissions, and costs, and subsequently develop a feature roadmap informed by these insights.
↓Feature prioritization
The primary focus and user journey established for our initial MVP will aid users in:
  • Analyzing their carbon footprint and conducting comprehensive assessments of our operations' environmental impact.
  • Mapping out metrics for ESG reporting purposes.
  • Implementing internal carbon taxes on HPE’s operations and investments.
↓User Journey
In Phase 1, our focus was on delivering:
  • Initiating ESG reporting for ESG operations
  • Providing visualizations of energy consumption, carbon emissions, and energy costs
  • Tracking carbon emissions for selected groups.
Design
High-quality data and metrics that drive sustainable options for your company's operations and strategy.
The subject matter dashboard exclusively contains sustainability information, making it a valuable tool for generating eco reports relevant to their IT infrastructure
🎨 Design lofi
Dashboard layout and feature flow design
I start by arranging the layout, seeking the most suitable design to effectively display the data in a hierarchical order. Secondly, I explore various data presentation options. Lastly, I test the filter logic and synchronize with the team on technical feasibility.
↓Competitor research
↓Layout study and low fidelity wireframe
↓Part of my low-fidelity design for data visualization and data filtering.
↓Design file for user flow to features included in this release, along with recommendations for data visualization, interaction, and filtering design.
Usability test: User feedback and iteration
We collaborated with a research team to recruit 8 individuals to conduct early-stage testing of the demo and validate our direction. The research is quantitative, focusing on understanding user behavior patterns and identifying necessary features for task completion. This insight will inform the development of our dashboard and guide future feature additions on our product roadmap.
Implementation
Dashboards that raise awareness to solution
The capability to track and manage my team’s energy consumption through this dashboard could help the organization save money, advance its climate goals, and contribute to preserving the environment for future generations.

Quick scanning in Sustainability Insight

Streamline the management of organizational climate goals by focusing on key IT estate management metrics that influence sustainability outcomes. Combining sustainability goals with data collection streamlines ESG-related tasks efficiently.

Data Filtering

Gather data based on time, geography, and device specifics that are important to decision-makers, helping you find the information you need for your investigation.

Export and generate report

Export and generate quality data reports to support your ESG team in their planning efforts.

▶ HPE : Accelerate your journey to sustainable IT

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