HENNGE has made significant improvements to the device certificate registration process offered in its flagship product, the HENNGE One cloud security service.
We spoke with Anna, the designer in charge of the project, about the motivation for the improvements and how the UX design has changed.
Yes, I am. I have worked as a web designer and UI/UX designer before, but HENNGE is my first time to work on BtoB IT services, and I learned everything about the product from scratch after I joined HENNGE.
Right now, I am mainly in charge of designing HENNGE Access Control, which is responsible for HENNGE One’s access control functions.
Anna, you have greatly improved the process of registering device certificates for HENNGE One. What exactly is a device certificate?
Simply put, it is like a driver’s license that the device has.
If a certificate is installed on a device in advance, the owner of that device can be identified when logging in to various services, and the services can only be used from the device that has the certificate.
The employee who owns the device will not have to enter his/her ID and password every time he/she logs in, and the company can reduce the risk of unauthorized logins.
I see. The registration of device certificates is a task for the information system administrator of the company using HENNGE One, right?
What challenges did you face in the registration process?
There were two main issues: “the method is only for batch registration” and “the error messages are complicated.
In particular, the batch registration process was very time-consuming because the administrator had to manually create a file with the names, addresses, device IDs, etc. of the employees to be registered and upload the file to the system.
Why does file uploading require so much time and effort?
There are two main times when an administrator needs to register a device certificate.
(1) After the HENNGE One contract starts, all employee devices are registered at once.
(2) When a new employee joins the company or replaces a device afterwards, register the device individually.
In the case of (1), batch registration is fine because the number of registrations is large, but in the case of (2), even if there are one or two registrations, it is difficult to create and upload a file each time.
That is certainly true. What made you realize this issue?
When I actually used the function myself, I thought it was too much work to create a file for only one registration.
I immediately asked the development department to compile data and analyze the behavior of the administrators, and found that in 80% of the cases, a file was created and uploaded for just one certificate registration. We are now moving toward the introduction of a process that will allow for easy individual registration without having to create a file each time.
How was the response?
The development department originally preferred batch registration because it reduced processing speed, but when they saw the data, they understood the need for individual registration.
After that, we discussed with them whether there was a way to reduce the man-hours required for registration, and we found a way to process the information in batches internally without losing speed, even if it is registered individually on the screen.
So we came up with a way to achieve both ease of use and speed! What did Anna keep in mind during the discussion?
Even if we have different opinions or departments, I believe that we all share the same goal of “delivering good products to our customers,” so I always try to listen to others’ opinions and their reasons while expressing my own.
That’s wonderful! What did you pay attention to in the design of the individual registration?
We made it easy to add and remove lines for entering employee information on the operation screen. We were conscious of creating an intuitive UI by using pull-downs to reduce manual input in areas where input options are limited, such as login type and operating system, and by making it easy to know what to input by looking at the screen.
To facilitate registration in any situation, the original batch registration method using file uploads has been retained and improved for ease of use.
We also improved the second issue, which was that error messages were complicated. Originally, when there was an incomplete entry, an error message would appear on several lines, and the administrator would have to look at the error message to find and correct the error. After the improvement, it is now possible to see at a glance where the error is when the data is entered.
The design is now very easy to understand! What was the reaction from users?
We received some very gratifying comments from users, such as “I appreciate that it is very easy to use,” “I can visually understand the operations and wording,” and “I trust you as a manufacturer because I can see that you are committed to improving both the screen and the functions.
What have you realized through this experience?
The importance of data analysis and user understanding. Rather than creating a function with no data, I felt again that it is important to gather the opinions of users, even if it is only one or two, and imagine in what situations they are using this function.
What was the most difficult part of this project?
Especially at the beginning, I did not have enough knowledge of IT and security, so it was difficult to catch up. But thanks to that, I was able to notice how difficult it was to use the system from the perspective of users whose literacy was not that high.
Even now, I look up words I don’t understand on my own, ask development members about product usage flow, and ask members of the Customer Success Department about problems users are having. Sometimes I use AI to generate questions so that I can ask more in-depth questions.
I have heard from other members of the design department that “Anna designs with a solid understanding of the structure of the product, which is amazing,” and I can see that this is the result of her daily efforts.
Finally, please tell us a little about the atmosphere of the design department at HENNGE.
Everyone is aware of each other and proactive. Recently, we had a discussion to summarize what we should value as designers at HENNGE, and everyone’s opinion was almost unanimous. Everyone has a high awareness of design and users, and I really feel like I am working with my colleagues.
Thank you very much for your nice talk!
HENNGE is looking for members who are willing to change and challenge together. Please click here for more information about the positions we are currently recruiting for.
Hello, Anna! Nice to meet you today!
Anna, you joined HENNGE in October 2022 as a UI/UX designer, right?