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Data Driven Decision Enabler

Schneider Electric

UX Research | UX Design | Market Strategy

Macbook mockup of D3E project

My Contribution

User Research of Electrical Contractors within the US - their market channels and revenue streams
Market Research of the Smart Home Automation business - desirability amongst users and potential roadblocks in adaptation
Business Model Canvas and SWOT Analysis
UI Decisions involved in the homeowner screens

the team

1 UX Researcher, 2 UX Designers

timeline

September 2021 - December 2021 at IUPUI
(Clients based in Tennessee)

Project Constraints

  • Introduction to a new user channel - Electrical Contractors, with no prior exposure to the domain.
  • Limited access to users as not many electrical contractors were open to talking with students.
  • The team had to primarily depend on research documents and white papers as a resource for user and market research.
  • In addition to making design decisions based on the user base, we also had to make considerations for revenue streams and cost structures. This was a new direction that we had to think in that I hadn't worked on before.

Project Overview

The design challenge

This project is based on a design challenge issued by Schneider Electric aimed at creating a market strategy for driving partnerships with electrical contractors by giving them a shared-revenue service model and generating recurring revenue for the electrical contractors.

Beachhead Market

Small Scale Electrical Contractors in California with Phase 1 of the project focusing on Palo Alto.

Target users

Electrical contractors (eC)

The ECs make up the primary user base for this design challenge. We focused on electrical contractors with a family run business and targeted the younger contractors taking over from family.

homeowners (HO)

Homeowners are our secondary user base but the primary user base for the ECs. Hence we had to take into consideration their needs and how ECs could serve them through our solution.

Solution

The D3E (Data Driven Decision Enabler) platform is aimed towards homeowners and electrical contractors. It is a two-fold application that bridges the gap between consumers and electrical contractors and helping them efficiently manage their energy consumption.

key features

For Electrical contractors (eC)

Viewing overall analytics of a community
Detailed view into individual residences and energy consumption
Ability to view changes in energy consumption and notify users with suggestions and problems

For Homeowners (HO)

Managing Smart Devices from phone application
Setting up Automations for Smart devices
Personalized Automation suggestions based on usage patterns

what was the impact we made?

The d3E product is projected to garner up to $2.2M in revenue from the phase-1 implementation in a 12-18 month rollout.

How did we achieve this?

See our design process

industry overview: electricians in the usa

beachhead: small scale electrical contractors in california

why california -

$22.7B

Total Market Revenue

21.33¢

Avg cost per KWH
6th highest rate in the US

29.63%

More MWH consumed than is generated

11.5%

market Share
Highest rate in the US
This data is generated based on 2020-2021 statistics and could be subject to change. Source: FindEnergy.com

why small scale contractors -

Flexible Family owned businesses
Undergoing generational Changes
Lower risk for pilot projects
Possibility of scaling to other demographies

environmental analysis

technology research

understanding data and its sources

expansion of smart home capabilities

demand response

Incentive programs offered by utility providers that give consumers the opportunity to reduce their engergy consumption at peak hours thereby enabling better load balancing at the grid.

personalization

Give the user more personalized data their enabling them to make more informed decisions regarding their energy usage, required maintenance and utility fault detection.

predictive analysis

Analyze trends of energy consumption over time to make smart decision about power saving, alternative energy and load balancing.

data interoperability

All devices within the same smart home should be able to function collaboratively with the help of open standards and services that remove any restrictions of brand value and market integrations.

user research

d3e and alternate solutions

data driven decision enabler (d3E) is a subscription model between electrical contractors (EC) and homeowners (HO) with Schneider electric (SE) as a stakeholder partner with eC.data driven decision enabler (D3E) is a subscription model betweene

Alternate solutions

The Sunny Tie-Up proposes a partnership between Solar Installer and EC with SE acting as a stakeholder.

The Wiser Partnership is a tie-up between EC and Home Builders brokered by SE as stakeholder with both parties.

predicted benefits of d3e

electrical contractor

  • Worker to a Value Creator & Enabler. Evolves into DR aggregator.
  • Newer means of generating income.
  • Extended” Schneider Electric team.
  • Feedback to help Schneider Electric innovate and stay ahead among their competitors.

homeowner

  • Informed Decision - Right products for their homes.
  • Creating sustainable and energy efficient communities.
  • Reduction in carbon footprint.
  • Optimized demand response.

Schneider electric

  • Availability of data (feedback + devices) will lead to informed design and business decisions of the products.
  • Homeowners see Schneider Electric as their partner in building sustainable and energy efficient communities.

prototyping

mapping requirements to prototype - low fidelity

scenario 1 - onboarding

scenario 3 - maintenance

scenario 2 - alerts

high fidelity - contractor dashboard

Click to view prototype

high fidelity - homeowner screens

Click to view prototype

business model

subscription structure

phase 1 revenue stream

$2.2 Million

Expected Revenue Generation from Phase 1 of D3E platflorm.
12-18 Months

Projected time period for D3E roll-out and phase 1 completion.

SWOT analysis

other artifacts created

final thoughts on the project

On this project I had to train myself to also think from the business perspective. Initially, I struggled with this as I found some business expectations to be in direct conflict with user needs. To deal with this I started thinking of business stakeholders as another type of user, whose needs, goals and expectations are as important as the customer.
Additionally, a major learning of this project was the marketing elements like the environmental analysis, business model, SWOT etc which I found extremely helpful in terms of understanding the financial feasibility of a project. I have since included these elements on other projects including the AT&T hackathon project, available on my portfolio.  

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