Spanning

I left frog in 2013 to go “in-house” and become directly integrated in the product development process. I landed at Spanning Cloud Apps, an Austin-based SaaS company that offers online backup products and services for Google Workspace, Salesforce, and Microsoft 365. My biggest impact there was pushing the product management and development teams to build responsive web products that worked equally well in desktop browsers and mobile devices. The products that we shipped made the company an attractive acquisition target for EMC and later Dell.

Shipped Products

Backup for Salesforce

PROBLEM

Spanning needed a backup product for Salesforce.com that not only worked in the desktop browser but also in the Salesforce1 mobile app.

SOLUTION

  • Led the design research and interaction design for the Salesforce.com backup product

  • Worked hand in hand with product management and engineering all the way from hand drawn sketches to fully designed visual comps and specs, ensuring alignment of expectations and design intent

  • Created a responsive design solution that worked equally well in a narrow viewport as it did in a fully-sized desktop browser

IMPACT

  • Launched Spanning Backup for Salesforce as one of the first apps to be available within the Salesforce1 mobile native platform

  • Strengthened Spanning’s reputation as a company that delivered excellent user experiences for its customers

  • Helped expand Spanning’s product portfolio and revenue stream

 

Backup for Microsoft 365

PROBLEM

Spanning needed a backup product for Microsoft (Office) 365 that not only worked in the desktop browser but also in a mobile sized viewport.

SOLUTION

  • Led the design research and interaction design for the Microsoft 365 backup product

  • As was the case with the Salesforce Backup product, worked hand in hand with product management and engineering all the way from hand drawn sketches to fully designed visual comps and specs, ensuring alignment of expectations and design intent

  • Created a responsive design solution that worked equally well in a narrow viewport as it did in a fully-sized desktop browser (full feature parity)

IMPACT

  • Created a user experience for Spanning Backup for Microsoft 365 that was even better than the company’s original Backup for Google Workspace product, which had very similar product scope and functionality

  • Helped expand Spanning’s product portfolio and revenue stream

  • Made Spanning a more attractive acquisition target for investors, leading first to an acquisition by EMC and later by Dell