Managing workloads between on-premises vSphere and the cloud for approximately 400,000 customers with perpetual licenses is a substantial undertaking. Offering a unified management platform that spans both environments is crucial. VMware's shift from perpetual licenses to subscriptions is not only a business transformation but also a strategic move to enhance customer experience. This transition empowers customers with additional value-added services, ultimately leading to a more seamless and efficient cloud management experience..

The IT admin serves as the end user for vSphere+. Previously, the sales team would take the initiative to approach customers with information about new products and potential contracts. However, this communication was mostly one-sided, and sales representatives found it challenging to actively engage with customers due to a lack of firsthand experience with the products.
On the other hand, IT admins faced difficulties in making informed decisions about adopting prospective products. While they received overview documents, they seldom had the opportunity to actually use the products and assess their performance with real data centers. This gap in practical experience made it harder for them to evaluate and make informed choices about adopting new solutions.

With the shift in business model from sales-led to product-led, there has been a notable change in the mindset of IT admins.

To gain a deeper understanding of the project's objectives, I commenced a 1.5-hour brainstorming session with the product manager and engineering leads. This allowed for a clear delineation of what customers can anticipate from the trial, what VMware aims to accomplish through the trial, and what the optimal state of the trial should be.
Given that the SaaS experience is a relatively uncharted territory due to the prevalence of on-premises products at VMware, generating a trial experience demands alignment across various business units. To gain valuable insights, I spearheaded six research sessions, engaging with a total of 45 users to discern their expectations. Users find the current experience overly complex. They are seeking a streamlined solution from VMware to facilitate their access to vSphere SaaS.

To get insights into industry-standard free trial offerings for enterprise products, particularly within the VMware ecosystem, I undertook a thorough research session. This involved referencing trial flows from leading public cloud vendors and collaborating closely with product teams that already had established free trial models. This collaborative effort proved invaluable in crystallizing the vision for our own free trial.
Researching trials from other vendors provided valuable insights, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses. This inspired me to create an illustrated trial flow for vSphere+.

In light of the valuable insights garnered from our research sessions, we defined a precise goal for the trial experience. Our primary objective was to empower users to efficiently activate the trial service, establish secure connections with their on-premises data centers, and effortlessly delve into the vSphere+ services via an intuitively designed onboarding process. This goal remained our steadfast compass throughout the entire development phase.

To gain a clearer understanding and visualize the workflow, I initiated a collaborative session with the Product Manager and Engineering leads. Through scoping out the requirements with the stakeholders, we identified several challenges within the journey:
1. Users may experience prolonged wait times from trial request to approval, potentially leading to drop-offs, as indicated by the marketing team's research.
2. Users might face concerns when transitioning from licensing to subscription-based entitlements, particularly in relation to their existing environments.
3. There is a concern among users about potential loss of access to their data centers at the end of the trial if they opt not to purchase a subscription. This is deemed unacceptable from the customers' perspective.

To streamline the journey and address the issues identified in the initial map, I collaborated closely with stakeholders across various business units. By leveraging insights gleaned from customer research, we successfully reduced the number of steps in the flow by 30% compared to the original process. This enhancement significantly improved the overall user experience.

Onboarding doesn't occur magically. The challenge lies in where and how we can assist users in establishing the connection. The quickest and most efficient way to connect on-premises data centers is through the cloud. However, users are hesitant to share their data center credentials and connect them directly from the cloud due to security concerns.
With security as a primary design principle, we developed on-premises software that is entirely managed and controlled by the users. This software facilitates the establishment of a connection between the on-premises data center and the cloud. The Cloud Gateway serves as the bridge, offering users the potential to experience cloud services while maintaining security.

I conducted extensive user testing and found that vSphere+ users are already acquainted with the data. What they seek is a swift grasp of available information. In this context, steppers and widgets might not be the most suitable design patterns.
On the other hand, IT admins faced challenges in making informed decisions about adopting prospective products. While they had access to overview documents, they seldom had the opportunity to use them in real-world scenarios or assess performance with actual data centers.

Users' interaction with VMware products tends to be text-heavy. While it doesn't hinder their tasks, enhancing the visual design could make the experience more enjoyable. Introducing motion design as part of the first trial service for traditional on-premises customers at VMware, I initiated a design-centric project that received full support from product management and engineering.

The final step involves verifying that all designs comply with accessibility guidelines, including motion. In our mockups, we conduct an accessibility check directly on Figma. Regarding motion graphics, I co-founded the initial motion design library, which incorporates motion accessibility guidelines. This ensures that the motion aligns with the established criteria when we deliver the final output to the engineering team.

1. Adoption: Continuously monitor the number of both new and existing customers who have activated the free trial.
2. Revenue: The primary objective of the trial is to drive revenue growth. Evaluating the impact on revenue provides a crucial measure of the trial's value.
3. Satisfaction:‘Biggest change is the culture around how things can be done which was the initial hurdle.’
‘It is much easier to do POC where we can try something out in the product and we don’t have to plan out systems in our data center which changes how we try products.’
‘I love to just activate the trial at home!’

1. Translate vague requirements with customers’ voices: Conversations with customers help me understand the scope and requirements better. The good approach is to shape the story with the product managers instead of executing what they shared;
2. Collaborate with cross functional stakeholders: Get algined with broader teams can really help improve the possibility to unblock a lot of capabilities and it will eventually benefical to customers;
3. Embrace uncertainty: You will never know how the design will be evolved over time. Try to talk with more users and dive deeper to that domain.