Project Brief

IBM Db2 Cloud: From Enterprise Complexity to User Clarity

The Strategic Challenge

IBM needed to compete in the cloud database market dominated by AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Despite Db2’s technical superiority over Oracle and SQL Server, enterprise adoption was stalling due to user experience friction.

Design Strategy

  • User-First Foundation: Conducted deep research with database administrators, developers, and IT decision-makers to understand workflow pain points and cognitive loads.
  • Experience Architecture: Redesigned the service from a feature-centric to a task-centric model, prioritizing user mental models over technical system architecture.
  • Progressive Disclosure: Created layered interfaces that surface complexity only when needed, allowing both novice and expert users to work efficiently.

    • Key Design Decisions

  • Onboarding Redesign: Transformed 47-step setup into guided 3-phase workflow
  • Dashboard Strategy: Shifted from data-heavy displays to actionable insights
  • Error Prevention: Built proactive guidance system reducing support tickets by 60%

    • Impact

  • Business: Accelerated user adoption and positioned IBM as a credible cloud database competitor
  • Users: Reduced time-to-value from weeks to hours for new implementations
  • Team: Established design-led product development culture across IBM Cloud organization
  • Outcome: The design foundation continues driving growth, with user satisfaction scores outperforming competitive solutions.