How we built ease of use into IC-EDGE

We set out to make IC-EDGE with ease of use front of mind. “Our main goal with IC-EDGE is that it should be easier to use for people with little knowledge about our systems,” says Senior Project Manager Iris Andersen. “Most of the time, field engineers and other installers are not working solely with our systems. They work with many different systems, and we wanted to make our part of things as easy as possible.”

Our IC-EDGE product line debuted in the United States in April 2019. Prior to that launch, Andersen and her team visited the U.S. to conduct a series of interviews with the people who were working closely with the installation and maintenance of the Pulse system, IC-EDGE’s predecessor.

“I asked for people who were pretty fresh, who had done one or two Pulse installations,” Andersen says. “Once you’ve worked with a system for a while, you’re familiar with the pain points, and you know how to work around them. We wanted to find the biggest pain points for the people installing our systems to understand how we could make the process easier.”

One of the driving forces behind streamlining and simplifying the IC-EDGE products was the cost associated with turnover. When engineers need to be replaced, companies incur a variety of costs in training new hires to become proficient in system installation. IC-EDGE represents Zenitel’s efforts to help curb these kinds of costs.

Ease of use is only the beginning

“One of the major changes we’ve made,” Andersen adds, “is to simplify and remove unnecessary applications. While conducting the interviews, we found that there were certain applications of the Pulse system that went widely unused. So, we shifted the focus with IC-EDGE to prioritize the applications that saw the most use and moved some of the more seldom-used parameters from the standard list to ‘advanced mode’.”

Other major changes include updated and simplified terminology, improvements in default audio values, and the ability to connect a larger system of devices without the need for licensing.

“Some of them didn’t know they could extend their system with licensing,” Andersen notes. “Some thought it was troublesome to get some of the licenses. We made changes so more products could be used on a larger system, without needing to go through the licensing process.”

Andersen adds that one finding from the interviews surprised the team: how many were setting up external relays to allow remote control over access points and other stations.
“We thought it was just a few people using that,” she says. “But it came up quite frequently in the interviews. Out of security concerns, many companies don’t necessarily want a door station to open the door from that station. You could achieve that in Pulse, but it wasn’t very intuitive, and some people said they didn’t understand how to do it.  So, we spent a lot of time simplifying the process for IC-EDGE.”

To find additional updates related to IC-EDGE and to learn more about the IC-EDGE system, visit the product showcase or the technical product pages.