The client is at the helm, or why should the provider give the wheel
Initially, our company was conceived as a “cloud solutions store”, but then the course was taken on IaaS. This was done because the market wanted it - users expressed this need. Why the provider should listen to the judgments of customers, let's talk further.
/ Flickr / Carla Wosniak / CC
At one of his lectures, Oleg Tinkov said that start-ups in Russia just need to copy ready-made solutions. This approach makes it possible to quickly bring the product to the market, show it to the client, determine the target audience. It is effective because it allows you to immediately pave the desired course and start moving.
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The approach is fair for visual design. To get away from the coast as quickly as possible, we looked at similar projects, such as DigitalOcean, and very quickly assembled the first version of the site.
First page title design
There is a website, you can start working and see if there is a demand for services. It so happened that, first of all, the heads of the companies became interested in the service, although we expected to see a more diverse audience. Legal entities became our Central Asia - we shifted the focus from the B2C to the B2B segment and began to think about ways to improve interaction with entrepreneurs.
As soon as we understood the target audience, it was decided to finally move away from copying any UI solutions and “roll out” something of our own. We reworked the appearance of the site and got rid of the problem of finding information about our services.
So, the old “steering wheel” was thrown overboard as useless, and its place was taken by a new one:
One of the stages of the evolution of design 1cloud.ru
New site design 1cloud
In order for the service to be as useful as possible, it is important to give the client a certain freedom, the ability to independently “rule the ship”. For example, we have implemented a calculator for ordering a new virtual server so that the user can independently configure the system parameters to fit his needs.
True, such solutions need to be implemented with caution - it is important to strike a balance between freedom of choice and convenience of work. Too many options, sliders, twists, from which the eyes run, can cause difficulties when working with the interface.
Therefore, for the processing of UI, we have chosen the necessary minimum, which will allow the client to determine the needs and expectations of costs. We made the subsequent design changes on the basis of analytics and internal research on the use of hardware throughout the service. Based on these data, the evolutionary development of our calculator was going on.
Calculator design option for ordering a virtual server
New order calculator virtual server
Available templates meet the requirements of most customers, but we are always ready to consider applications and proposals individually. Still, the client is at the helm.
Usability is great, but for good service, something else is important. For example, the ability to show customers that service is not just a “black box”. The control panel helps users control what is happening, where they can monitor the server load in real time: CPU, RAM, storage and communication channels.
Server Status Window in Control Panel
By analyzing the load on the servers, clients independently “lower or set sail”, connecting or disconnecting the power in a couple of clicks. This can be done using the REST API . To start the virtual machine, it is enough to send a POST request with the desired parameters. Here is one of the options :
At the same time, we also see in what proportions customers use resources and how they distribute funds. According to our data, users spend on RAM is 48.46%, on CPU - 19.28%, and on backup - 3.39%. This information allows you to find new points of growth and improvement. For example, it is used to work out billing parameters.
Recently, customers can control the speed of the Internet. Previously, the external channel allocated to servers had a guaranteed bandwidth of 10 Mbps. However, it could be increased by contacting support. Now clients can change the connection speed in the range from 10 to 100 Mbps through the control panel .
We are developing a service to provide users with more opportunities. For example, the function of copying servers was added — creating servers based on old ones without intermediate templates — and an electronic document management system was introduced . Documentation delivery method can be installed in the same place - in the control panel.
To sail the ocean alone is difficult. As difficult as developing a large project without interacting with partners. Therefore, we work with many private and corporate clients: resellers, application developers and organizations that sell their own services at 1cloud facilities.
The development of third-party projects using solutions 1cloud (for example, API) allows us to evaluate the services we provide from different angles. Each of the participants in the "flotilla" can suggest any changes or solutions. This strengthens the relationship with customers and the entire system as a whole.
Based on our own development experience of the IaaS provider 1cloud, we can conclude that we should not be afraid to change the direction of development. You need to listen to your customers, give them freedom, so that both parties are comfortable. For example, if a customer understands that he can manage his infrastructure on his own, this reduces the burden on the technical support department. Improving the service is much easier when the process is based on mutual trust - companies and customers.
PS A few more materials about the development of IaaS-provider 1cloud:
/ Flickr / Carla Wosniak / CCFind landmarks
At one of his lectures, Oleg Tinkov said that start-ups in Russia just need to copy ready-made solutions. This approach makes it possible to quickly bring the product to the market, show it to the client, determine the target audience. It is effective because it allows you to immediately pave the desired course and start moving.
')
The approach is fair for visual design. To get away from the coast as quickly as possible, we looked at similar projects, such as DigitalOcean, and very quickly assembled the first version of the site.
There is a website, you can start working and see if there is a demand for services. It so happened that, first of all, the heads of the companies became interested in the service, although we expected to see a more diverse audience. Legal entities became our Central Asia - we shifted the focus from the B2C to the B2B segment and began to think about ways to improve interaction with entrepreneurs.
As soon as we understood the target audience, it was decided to finally move away from copying any UI solutions and “roll out” something of our own. We reworked the appearance of the site and got rid of the problem of finding information about our services.
So, the old “steering wheel” was thrown overboard as useless, and its place was taken by a new one:
We improve the solution "on the go"
In order for the service to be as useful as possible, it is important to give the client a certain freedom, the ability to independently “rule the ship”. For example, we have implemented a calculator for ordering a new virtual server so that the user can independently configure the system parameters to fit his needs.
True, such solutions need to be implemented with caution - it is important to strike a balance between freedom of choice and convenience of work. Too many options, sliders, twists, from which the eyes run, can cause difficulties when working with the interface.
Therefore, for the processing of UI, we have chosen the necessary minimum, which will allow the client to determine the needs and expectations of costs. We made the subsequent design changes on the basis of analytics and internal research on the use of hardware throughout the service. Based on these data, the evolutionary development of our calculator was going on.
Available templates meet the requirements of most customers, but we are always ready to consider applications and proposals individually. Still, the client is at the helm.
Rule the sails in the wind
Usability is great, but for good service, something else is important. For example, the ability to show customers that service is not just a “black box”. The control panel helps users control what is happening, where they can monitor the server load in real time: CPU, RAM, storage and communication channels.
By analyzing the load on the servers, clients independently “lower or set sail”, connecting or disconnecting the power in a couple of clicks. This can be done using the REST API . To start the virtual machine, it is enough to send a POST request with the desired parameters. Here is one of the options :
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'Authorization: Bearer 75bb9805c018b1267b2cf599a38b95a3a811e2ef7ad9ca5ed838ea4c6bafaf50' "https://api.1cloud.ru/Server" -d '{"Name":"testAPI","CPU":1,"RAM":1024,"HDD":40,"imageID":1,"HDDType":"SSD","IsHighPerformance":true}' At the same time, we also see in what proportions customers use resources and how they distribute funds. According to our data, users spend on RAM is 48.46%, on CPU - 19.28%, and on backup - 3.39%. This information allows you to find new points of growth and improvement. For example, it is used to work out billing parameters.
Recently, customers can control the speed of the Internet. Previously, the external channel allocated to servers had a guaranteed bandwidth of 10 Mbps. However, it could be increased by contacting support. Now clients can change the connection speed in the range from 10 to 100 Mbps through the control panel .
We are developing a service to provide users with more opportunities. For example, the function of copying servers was added — creating servers based on old ones without intermediate templates — and an electronic document management system was introduced . Documentation delivery method can be installed in the same place - in the control panel.
Big swimming - big flotilla
To sail the ocean alone is difficult. As difficult as developing a large project without interacting with partners. Therefore, we work with many private and corporate clients: resellers, application developers and organizations that sell their own services at 1cloud facilities.
The development of third-party projects using solutions 1cloud (for example, API) allows us to evaluate the services we provide from different angles. Each of the participants in the "flotilla" can suggest any changes or solutions. This strengthens the relationship with customers and the entire system as a whole.
Based on our own development experience of the IaaS provider 1cloud, we can conclude that we should not be afraid to change the direction of development. You need to listen to your customers, give them freedom, so that both parties are comfortable. For example, if a customer understands that he can manage his infrastructure on his own, this reduces the burden on the technical support department. Improving the service is much easier when the process is based on mutual trust - companies and customers.
PS A few more materials about the development of IaaS-provider 1cloud:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/335246/
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