Epiphan Cloud
Remotely control and monitor hardware devices from Epiphan Video
Epiphan Cloud enables users of Epiphan's hardware to remotely control their devices for easy creation, configuration, and video content streaming.
Company and Date
Epiphan Video | May-Sept 2020
Epiphan Video | May-Sept 2020
My Role
Product Design | UX Research | Design Lead | Marketing Images
Product Design | UX Research | Design Lead | Marketing Images
Epiphan Video's clients, particularly universities, often manage multiple devices across different locations, with some operating up to 50 devices. Without a centralized system, IT managers faced the frustrating task of manually configuring each device, often resorting to hacks or third-party solutions to make this process faster.
To address this challenge, we developed Epiphan Cloud, a web application for remote control and configuration of Epiphan devices. As the product designer, I led the research and design of the initial release, planned future features, introduced a new design approach for the company, and refined the product through iterative feedback.
The platform represents a strategic shift for Epiphan, introducing their first subscription-based model and serving as a powerful tool for hardware cross-selling — the ability to centrally manage multiple devices makes larger hardware purchases more appealing for clients like universities, government institutions and large event producers.
*Epiphan Cloud went through a rebranding and is now called Epiphan Edge.
User goals:
• Monitor, configure, and use physical Epiphan devices from anywhere.
Business goals:
• Create a new digital product that enhances the value of the hardware products and allows a steady stream of revenue.
• Improve brand recognition for easy-to-use, user-friendly products.
Results:
• Epiphan Cloud marked a significant business milestone by introducing the company's first subscription-based model, creating a new stream of recurring revenue.
• Contributed to doubling the company's revenue and securing a $1M sale.
• The platform dramatically improved efficiency and satisfaction, reducing device management time by 75% due to remote capabilities.
• Ready to be scaled as a platform and be used to host all future digital products from Epiphan.
• Improvements in the design process and culture: Product research became more common, as well as working in small increments to be validated at a time.
The Approach
How might we allow Epiphan customers to control their devices remotely to create and manage live event video productions?
People were tired of fidgeting with finicky solutions and needed a place to see and control all their devices.
The need arose after evaluating feedback from users and satisfaction forms.
The main users and goals
1. Audio/video technicians and managers from universities and live events companies.
They need to manage a fleet of devices, ensure everything is running smoothly, and record and stream the event to the selected location (Youtube, Facebook, Kaltura, etc.).
They need to manage a fleet of devices, ensure everything is running smoothly, and record and stream the event to the selected location (Youtube, Facebook, Kaltura, etc.).
2. Buyers (Directors of Information Technology).
They need to purchase the best audio/video solution based on a list of requirements.
They need to purchase the best audio/video solution based on a list of requirements.
We had provisional user journeys collaboratively done in Miro to understand the buying process and the first Epiphan device set-up experience. Helpful in some stages of the Epiphan Cloud development.
Dashboard design, constraints and a quick launch.
The idea of having a dashboard was already established, so the ideation phase was more focused on features and constraints. Constraints were defined with the team, and we ended up with requirements on spreadsheets.
The company also aimed for a quick release, which meant we needed to use an outdated design system as a starting point — with space for some updates.
Users can access each device individually to get specific stats and do operations.
Progressive disclosure and customizable status fields.
Most of the professionals who use our products are highly skilled and want to check and customize all possible details and gear statuses. To not overwhelm them, we display the most necessary info on the surface and leave the rest to secondary pages.
Most of the interface work was figuring out the different flows and relationships between operations.
Even hovers and active states demanded some extra considerations.
Whimsical elements were also incorporated for delight.
Any operation in Cloud meant a change in the Pearl-2 touchscreen interface and Pearl-2 admin interface.
Alert System: Focus on the event production and not on the hardware.
Managing audio/video systems is stressful work due to the number of different devices and software people have to work with (e.g. microphones, video cameras, sound boards, automation systems, encoders, etc.). This brings a lot of possible points of failure. By implementing a comprehensive alert system, operators can confidently focus on other critical workflow tasks, knowing they'll receive immediate notifications of any issues from Epiphan devices. This proactive monitoring approach reduces operational stress and builds greater trust in the system's reliability.
“Epiphan Cloud puts our eyes and ears on-site. It allows us to control the outcome of the event.” Jim Fiore, President at Corporate Events Online.
View case study →
View case study →
Batch operations, filters and groups.
We developed the batch operations feature to serve users managing three or more devices, enabling them to execute simultaneous actions across their entire device fleet. The UI component and flows were deliberately designed with scalability in mind, allowing for seamless integration of additional operations as future needs emerge.
Grouping: Universities with 40+ Epiphan devices are pleased to be able to catalogue, search and find what they need.
The implementation of group management capabilities has proven particularly valuable for universities managing extensive Epiphan device fleets. By organizing devices by classroom or department, managers can efficiently filter and access relevant equipment. This organizational structure becomes especially powerful when combined with batch operations, allowing users to execute fleet-wide changes within minutes rather than the previous half-day or full-day requirements.
Launch and Results.
We deployed the initial release within three months of project initiation, followed by continuous iterative improvements.
The biggest single hardware sale from Epiphan.
The Cloud platform improved the value proposition of Epiphan's hardware devices, which made them a more enticing offer for institutions that needed lots of units. It took part on doubling the company's revenue and securing a single USD 1M sale.
The Cloud platform improved the value proposition of Epiphan's hardware devices, which made them a more enticing offer for institutions that needed lots of units. It took part on doubling the company's revenue and securing a single USD 1M sale.
Reduced users’ task completion time by 75% and made them remote.
The platform dramatically transformed operations, reducing traditional on-site tasks from hours to minutes through remote management capabilities. This efficiency gain was critical to IT administrators and video operations managers across major enterprises and educational institutions.
The platform dramatically transformed operations, reducing traditional on-site tasks from hours to minutes through remote management capabilities. This efficiency gain was critical to IT administrators and video operations managers across major enterprises and educational institutions.
A first step for an end-to-end platform.
The timing of Epiphan Cloud's launch was strategic, coinciding with COVID-19 lockdowns. It enabled a seamless transition to remote operations while establishing the foundation for a comprehensive end-to-end platform. The centralized management system became a powerful incentive for hardware fleet expansion, with the batch operations feature being a crucial driver of subscription adoption – in many cases, serving as the primary motivation for subscription enrollment.
The timing of Epiphan Cloud's launch was strategic, coinciding with COVID-19 lockdowns. It enabled a seamless transition to remote operations while establishing the foundation for a comprehensive end-to-end platform. The centralized management system became a powerful incentive for hardware fleet expansion, with the batch operations feature being a crucial driver of subscription adoption – in many cases, serving as the primary motivation for subscription enrollment.
Improvements in the design process and culture.This was my first project at Epiphan and I introduced many new processes and ideas. Product research became more common, as well as working in small increments to grab constant validation from the team, amongst others.
Case study:
Video production company ramps up operations with cloud-enabled efficiency
Jeremy Prudhomme, Founder of JEEMAN Productions.
Next steps.
A key enhancement is the implementation of an event-based workflow that better aligns with our users' mental models.
Events-based approach matching users' mental models:
Live production professionals typically work with recurring event configurations that vary by event type. We envision a system where producers can create, save, and reuse event templates that include specific device groupings and configurations for different scenarios (e.g. live concerts, townhalls, sports broadcast, round tables, etc.). This approach would allow for advance scheduling and seamless replication of successful technical setups.
I created a dashboard concept on Dribbble that shows a little of how this could look like.
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Credits:
Admin: Misha Jiline, Mike Sandler.
Product Management: Yusupha Touray, George Birchall.
UX Design: Marcos Duda.
Engineering: Vadim Kalinskiy, Vladimir Rodkin, Roman Davydov, Adam Frame.
Marketing, branding: George Birchall, Jay Bonilla, Dan Wallace, Marta Chernova, Victor Doubrovine.
Customer Success: George Herbert, Mathieu Renaud, Zack Bell, Adam Palmer, Ryan Haynes.
QA: Issam Kndakji, Loulia Massarani.
+ The whole team at Epiphan Video
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