Connected
Facilitating a seamless return-to-office experience
Solving for: hybrid teams, remote work, employee experience
Context
Connected was Palo Alto Networks' internal employee app, used by 17,000+ employees during the return-to-office transition.
Problem
The mobile experience was fragmented by authentication issues, poor navigation, and workflows not designed for real on-campus usage.
My Role
UX Designer embedded in the Employee Experience product team, responsible for research, mobile UX improvements, and design delivery under tight timelines.
Outcome
Despite validated usability findings and a clear mobile-first direction, leadership chose to cancel the initiative due to shifting organizational priorities.
Proposed Solution
The proposed direction focused on repositioning Connected as a mobile-first tool that could support everyday in-office activities without friction. Key focus areas included desk booking, peer coordination, room reservations, and access to office-specific information.
My Process
I focused on quickly identifying mobile usability risks, validating them through testing, and translating findings into actionable design improvements under tight timelines.
I was able to find these outcomes by moderating remote usability testing was conducted with active employees using realistic mobile task scenarios.
Usability Studies
We conducted moderated mobile usability testing with active PANW employees to identify navigation breakdowns, IA gaps, and task failures in everyday on-campus workflows.
Key Findings
Three high-risk usability failures were identified:
• Authentication loops that interrupted task completion
• Broken navigation between internal and external systems
• Critical actions (canceling reservations, arrival notifications) hidden or unclear on mobile
Impact
Task abandonment stemmed from systemic UX and infrastructure issues rather than user error. Repeated authentication prompts, context-breaking redirects, and mobile-incompatible navigation patterns prevented users from completing otherwise straightforward workflows.
This indicated a high risk of disengagement for everyday employee tasks if structural issues remained unresolved.
Findings
The primary usability failures were not isolated interaction issues, but symptoms of deeper structural misalignment.
Connected was designed as a desktop-first system with fragmented authentication and external dependencies, yet expected to function as a cohesive mobile tool.
The mismatch caused users to lose context mid-task, obscured primary actions, and broke trust in task completion. Once users experienced these breakdowns, they abandoned subsequent tasks preemptively, indicating learned avoidance rather than momentary confusion.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Homepage - Book Desk - Events - Find Friends - Office Locations