The Problem
- Business: Cloud migration service underutilized — only 22% of eligible customers adopted; 70% abandoned mid-migration due to complexity.
- Users: IT teams struggled with inventory assessment, compatibility checks, and cost estimation; average migration took 4–6 months with 15+ manual steps.
- Constraints: Had to work within existing Dell cloud infrastructure; migration involved third-party tools and partner integrations.
The Solution
- Strategy: Self-service portal with guided workflows — inventory → assessment → planning → execution → verification.
- Design: Step-by-step migration wizard with real-time cost estimation, compatibility scoring, and automated remediation suggestions.
- Validation: 18 contextual sessions with IT managers; 3-month beta with 45 enterprise customers; A/B test on cost estimator accuracy.
Executive Summary
Dell's cloud migration service had powerful backend capabilities but a fragmented, manual customer experience. IT teams struggled to assess their infrastructure, estimate costs, and plan migrations — leading to high abandonment rates and low adoption.
I designed a self-service migration portal that guided customers through end-to-end workflows with real-time cost estimation, automated compatibility checks, and step-by-step execution tracking. The result: 60% faster migrations, 45% higher adoption, and a significant reduction in support burden.
Business Problem
- Only 22% of eligible enterprise customers adopted the cloud migration service
- 70% of customers abandoned migrations mid-process due to complexity and unclear next steps
- Average migration timeline of 4–6 months with 15+ manual steps across different tools
- Support team overwhelmed with migration-specific tickets — 38% of all cloud-related inquiries
- Competitor migration tools offered better self-service experiences, threatening market share
User Research
Conducted 18 contextual inquiry sessions with IT managers, cloud architects, and infrastructure engineers across enterprise accounts. Also analyzed 200+ abandoned migration workflows and support ticket patterns.
Insight 01
Users couldn't answer "how much will this cost?" — cost estimates required manual spreadsheets and took days to produce.
Insight 02
Compatibility checks were opaque — teams discovered incompatibility issues late in migration, causing costly rework.
Insight 03
No clear progress tracking — teams didn't know what step they were on or what came next.
Insight 04
Migration felt like a black box — no visibility into what the platform was doing during automated steps.
Discovery Insights
- Real-time cost estimation was the #1 blocker — teams couldn't get budget approval without accurate projections
- Guided workflows with clear progress indicators reduced abandonment by 40% in testing
- Automated compatibility scoring with remediation suggestions reduced manual assessment time by 70%
- Customers wanted self-service but needed on-demand expert access at critical decision points
Journey Mapping
Mapped the migration journey across 6 phases: discovery → inventory → assessment → planning → execution → verification. Identified 22 friction points, with the biggest drops occurring between assessment and planning due to cost uncertainty and between planning and execution due to complexity.
Opportunity Areas
- Guided migration wizard: Step-by-step workflow with progress tracking and clear next actions
- Real-time cost estimator: Dynamic pricing based on inventory, performance requirements, and migration timeline
- Compatibility scoring: Automated assessment with visual risk indicators and remediation suggestions
- Execution transparency: Real-time status updates on automated migration steps with rollback options
Product Strategy
Defined a self-service-first strategy with expert escalation:
- Wizard-based flows: Linear, guided workflows for each migration phase with clear completion criteria
- Real-time estimation: Cost calculator that updates as users select options and configure workloads
- Progressive complexity: Start with simple migrations, unlock advanced options as users gain confidence
- Expert escalation: On-demand access to Dell migration consultants at critical decision points
Success metrics: migration completion rate, time-to-migrate, support ticket reduction, and customer NPS.
Design Exploration
Explored 3 approaches: a dashboard-first interface, a chatbot-assisted flow, and a guided wizard. Testing revealed the guided wizard was most effective — it provided structure while allowing flexibility at decision points.
Designed the cost estimator as an interactive component that responded to inventory changes in real-time, with visual indicators for cost drivers and optimization opportunities.
Validation
- 18 contextual inquiry sessions with IT managers and cloud architects
- 3-month beta with 45 enterprise customers — tracked completion rate and time-to-migrate
- A/B test on cost estimator accuracy — compared against manual spreadsheet estimates
- Usability testing on migration wizard with 12 participants
Final Solution
Shipped a self-service cloud migration portal with guided workflows, real-time cost estimation, automated compatibility scoring, progress tracking, and on-demand expert escalation — all integrated with Dell's existing cloud infrastructure and partner tools.