PROJECT GOAL
Create and build a company that provides affordable, easy-to-use network security software products for IT and security professionals at security-conscious mid-tier enterprises. Success is measured revenues and quality of customer experience. www.StillSecure.com

PROJECT BACKGROUND
Founded in 2001, Latis Networks is a privately-held, venture-funded company. With the growing urgency and priority of security, in January, 2002. Rajat Bhargava narrowed the company’s strategy to focus on network security software, targeting the under-served market of small to mid-tier enterprise.

Implementing network security is not just an IT decision. It is a business decision based on considering what the impact could be if a company’s:
• network is brought down for a significant amount of time
• intellectual property is stolen or made freely available
• confidential customer, patient, or account information is made public.

Any one of these could jeopardize the success of a business, therefore companies of all sizes need to secure their networks. There are, however, two barriers to Latis’s target market:
1. Ease of use and cost: Products today range from difficult- to-understand and use, but free, open source technologies; to extremely expensive enterprise solutions from market leaders such as Internet Security Systems (ISS) and Symantec. Additionally, networks are not secured with one product alone, but by implementing a layered approach, the first step being a firewall.
2. Security expertise: Many companies cannot afford to have security experts on staff, thereby requiring their network administrators to assume the responsibility for security and learn on the job– but be immediately effective.

Products for companies of this size must be designed differently than for large enterprise, primarily because of level of security expertise and number of users. Latis’s solution is the StillSecure suite, a Web-based, integrated suite of network security software, priced so affordably, that companies will want to purchase several products in the suite. The products serve the needs of two types of users:
1. the network administrator who needs easy-to-use software that enables him to be immediately effective;
2. the security expert/manager who expects all the sophistication and robustness of best of class products and that it’s easy to use because typically he’ll have network administrators working with him.

Rajat realized early on that in this crowded market space, Latis’s success will be tightly tied to deeply knowing customers and delivering experiences that are tailored specifically for them.

STEP SUMMARY
Steps 1-4: In February, 2002, Rajat hired Terry to conduct a user experience audit/product evaluation of Latis’s first product, Perimeter. Results of the audit were incorporated into v.1, released in March. After the release, Mitchell, Greg and Terry redesigned the interface using a task-based framework. The product team– then comprised of engineers, developers and testers– got involved immediately and collectively a new design and development process has evolved. Today, the product team includes designers too.

March-August, Raj, Mitchell, Alan and Terry had ongoing strategy sessions to define customer profiles, understand market conditions and plot the brand strategy, product strategy and market position.

Steps 5-9: In April, Latis conducted its first extensive round of customer research using newly designed prototypes. This research not only validated the design approach, but gave deeper insight into the distinctions between the two types of users which has subsequently informed how features are selected and prioritized for inclusion in each release. Perimeter was renamed Border Guard to align with the evolving brand strategy and v.2 was released in May.

Design, research and testing continued over the summer and v.1 of Latis’s second product, Server VA (vulnerability assessment), was released in September. As the second product in the suite, SVA’s interface was based on the same structure and visual language as Border Guard’s. As a result, the time required to design a new product was dramatically reduced as the entire product team was able to conceptualize and design functionality based on the foundational StillSecure interface and interaction.

Steps 10-12: StillSecure.com was launched in October. The visual language of the site is the same as the products’. Web marketing, ‘Webinar’ promotions and press mentions drive significant traffic to the site which is mined for lead generation. Both products have since evolved into product families with three products in each. VAM v.2.0 will be released in February and Border Guard 4.0 in March, 2003. Each family has a major release each quarter that includes two rounds of customer research in the development cycle. This research is conducted by Mitchell and Terry– the engineering and customer experience VPs together– to ensure the right brand experience. In addition to learning a considerable amount about customers, these visits often result in sales as customers are excited by working with a company where they can see their needs understood and met in the products.

Steps for this project: