IBM’s AI Digital Workplace

Company IBM
Year 2024
DisciplinesAI, Strategy, User Experience
PlatformsMobile, Web

Overview

The CIO's mission to optimize IBMer Experiences My responsibilities include leading and coaching 12 designers across 8 product teams, partnering with cross-disciplinary stakeholders to define and prioritize product strategy and roadmaps, and defining a cohesive product vision that aligns with the IBM brand. Most recently, I led a team of 30 contributors in a 12 week AI visioning exercise to identify over 120 use cases to reduce friction and boost IBMer efficiency by leveraging IBM’s watsonx AI in our products.

Background

Our mission Empower IBMers with AI through user-centered innovation Enhance decision making Improve communication and collaboration Assist in task guidance and completion Jump-start common tasks

Approach

To lead the AI visioning workstream, I developed a comprehensive and structured approach that guided the team through knowledge sharing, divergent thinking, and prototyping. We began with foundational sessions to align stakeholders, establish a shared understanding of the Carbon for AI guidance, and identify key AI opportunities. I fostered collaboration and innovation through divergent thinking workshops, where participants generated and refined ideas based on user stories, personas, and benchmarking insights. By strategically driving convergent ideation, I led the team in crafting user flows and identifying UX, technical, and tooling considerations, ensuring the ideas addressed real user needs. Finally, I coordinated the prototyping phase, where designers worked in pairs to develop cohesive solutions. My leadership and vision were key to transforming ideas into actionable prototypes, aligning teams across multiple business units, and advancing IBM’s AI initiatives.

Challenges

Outcome

I led the AI visioning workstream that identified 72 use cases, each directly addressing user needs and pain points. Six workflows were fast-tracked through IBM’s rigorous AI path to production and approved for further research and testing within two weeks of delivery. This sparked excitement across business units eager to collaborate on these impactful AI experiences for IBMers. The initiative fostered a strong sense of community and pride among the 30+ contributors, while securing VP buy-in on the importance of driving value and impact through user-centered design and ethical AI innovation.