HDS Employee Connect

UX Research & Enterprise Intranet Design

Company Hitachi Data Systems
Role Product Lead, team of 4 PMs
Scope Employee Portal Redesign

Overview

HDS Employee Connect was a comprehensive redesign of the Hitachi Data Systems employee intranet. The project began with extensive user research to understand the diverse needs of employees across different roles and locations, followed by a capability assessment of the existing platform.

Research & Personas

Through interviews and contextual inquiry, four primary employee personas were identified, each with distinct needs and workflows. The Road Warrior (Sales Representative) needed mobile access to product information, while the Team Lead (Engineering Manager) required quick feedback tools and goal setting capabilities.

Four employee personas: Road Warrior, New Hire, Team Lead, and Remote Worker
Employee personas identifying four key user types: Road Warrior, New Hire/Contingent Worker, Team Lead, and Remote/Office Worker — each with distinct top needs

Capability Assessment

A Current State Capability Maturity Map was created to assess the organization's digital maturity across key areas including content management, digital asset management, communication, user experience, search, integration, and analytics. This heat-map visualization identified gaps and opportunities that informed the redesign strategy.

Current State Capability Maturity Map showing maturity levels across digital capabilities
Current State Capability Maturity Map assessing digital maturity across content management, collaboration, UX, search, analytics, and security

Connect 1.0 Key Capabilities

The redesigned Connect 1.0 platform delivered a common destination for all Hitachi Insight Group employees across HDS, Pentaho, and FedCorp. Key capabilities included personalized content access, transformation updates, streamlined enterprise search, mobile-friendly responsive design, and SSO-enabled authentication.

Connect 1.0 Key Capabilities shown on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
Connect 1.0 — responsive intranet design with personalized experiences, enterprise search, and mobile access across devices
Connect 1.0 Homepage and Search experience
Redesigned Homepage and enterprise search experience

Outcome

The research findings and capability assessment provided a clear roadmap for the Employee Connect redesign, prioritizing mobile accessibility, federated search, and personalized content delivery based on employee role and location. Employee CSAT improved from 6/10 to 8/10, a month after launch.