In this new update you learn more about the improvements we’re currently working on in the field of UI / UX. Not in a reading mood? No worries. Relax and enjoy our podcast below.
In 2015 Fuga Cloud was born. A 100% IaaS service created by the team behind the Dutch Managed Service Provider, Cyso. A service that makes it as easy as possible to launch a VM within a few seconds without the intervention of a cloud provider. While hardcore techies use the Command Line Interface, everyone should be able to launch a VM within a few clicks through a user interface.
Given the nature of our core business, this was a big challenge for us
Because our roots lie in providing kick-ass (managed) hosting solutions and not in developing the ultimate user experience. Nevertheless, we have made the choice to develop our complete IaaS service in-house. From the realization of the infrastructure to content and design. This way we don’t have any dependencies on external organizations and we are in complete control ourselves. It also fits well with our Agile strategy where we want to be as close to our customers as possible so that we can quickly respond to their requests.
The result is an end-to-end team that deals with the development of Fuga Cloud on a daily basis. And as I indicated in the introduction; UI / UX also plays an ever-increasing role. Because a well-thought-out user experience is one of the most important factors which nowadays makes or breaks a product. Let’s take Sonos as an example. Why does everyone buy a Sonos Play 1 speaker for 150 bucks? User experience is the answer. It’s the main reason Sonos is one of the biggest players in their market. More and more organizations want to distinguish themselves in the field of user experience. As a result, the bar is constantly being raised and we are getting more and more used to a seamless user experience, regardless the channel or device we are using. We are aware that staying behind in the field of user experience can be fatal for your product.
Now, let’s take a step back to our Fuga Cloud services
Towards the release of Fuga Cloud, back in 2015, we made the choice to use Horizon. The official OpenStack dashboard (OpenStack is the open source cloud operating system we use). In addition, we wrapped our own Fuga Cloud theme around the out-of-the-box Horizon dashboard. In that case, all the traditional functionalities that Horizon offers were still available. Customers who were used to the OpenStack Horizon dashboard are still able to find their way through our dashboard. We believe that cloud should be simple and accessible for everyone. Because we, and dozens of other cloud providers, use OpenStack it is very easy to switch between cloud providers. A uniform dashboard contributes to this and makes it more user-friendly.
In addition, we have developed an extra portal with additional functionality and connected it to OpenStack Horizon dashboard. This includes the registration process, the invoicing process and the management of user data. This involved two issues:
- Users have to log in multiple times because the two systems are not fully integrated
- No consistent look and feel between the two dashboards In terms of user experience, there is so much to gain in that area, and that is exactly what we are currently working on. As I mentioned in the previous update, we are busy with our second region. We have chosen to combine the release of this second region with an improved UI / UX of the dashboard and the registration process. But are we moving away from the traditional OpenStack Horizon Dashboard? No, not at all.
CoreUI - the key to consistency
We will ensure that the registration process and the portal where end users can manage their company data seamlessly connects to the OpenStack Horizon dashboard. We use CoreUI for this. An open source administrator template based on Bootstrap 4. It allows us to very easily implement one consistent styling in all our dashboards. In addition, development of our dashboards will be much faster because we use standard components that are frequently used within administrator systems. It provides the end user with more recognition within a dashboard, which should result in a more pleasant user experience.
Furthermore, CoreUI is fully optimized for mobile devices (in addition to a desktop of course). This way you can easily use our services on any device.
By releasing the second region we will also fix the login issue so you don’t have to sign on multiple dashboards. You, as an end user, should not be bugged by the fact we use separate systems. You are only using one service; Fuga Cloud. By integrating our Single sign-on (SSO) solution you will be able to login in one place and have direct access to all dashboards (with one consistent design and user experience).
Best of both worlds
Bottom line: we want to create one experience and find the ultimate mix between the standard OpenStack Horizon dashboard and the CoreUI administrator template that we are currently implementing. The ultimate goal is that you as an end user can use our services as quickly and simple as possible. Of course, we will also provide our new dashboards with feedback options so that you can immediately provide us with your input.
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