• See this project on Symantec's website
  Select RUN DEMO under the pcTELECOMMUTE box

Client: Symantec Challenge: Symantec needed to make information about their new pcTELECOMMUTE product available in an easy to access, easy to update format. This information would be used to educate their sales-force as well as pcTELECOMMUTE's target market about the product's many features. These groups needed to be able to access both overview and detailed information quickly and easily using an interface that would be engaging and intuitive for all — regardless of computer comfort level.

The technical challenge we faced was that this tour of Symantec's new software would be delivered in a browser environment on both CD-ROM and from their website's Unix server. It would need to run in 4.x versions of both Netscape and Internet Explorer, and it would need to perform flawlessly on virtually any platform using Windows 95, Win98 and Windows NT 4.0 operating environments.

The Product Tour would also have to be equally effective with or without audio, as the web version would not use audio, but the CD-ROM version would use audio extensively.

Solution:
Our solution was to work with Symantec to create a straightforward, Internet-based Product Tour about the pcTELECOMMUTE software. It would be accessible through Symantec's homepage for easy access with a minimal connection speed, (meaning basic use of media and easy navigation) and would also be made available on CD-ROM.

To meet users' need to get to information quickly and easily, we use a graphic of pcTELECOMMUTE's toolbar as the main menu. When the user selects a function from the toolbar, an overview of that function is presented, followed by a submenu, which leads them to greater detail. We also provide the user with an expanding Windows Explorer-like menu on the left of the screen. Using either of these menus, the user has complete freedom to get to features and benefits overviews of any of the 10 modules within the Product Tour with one click, and to detailed information on how to use each function with two clicks.

It was important that the CD-ROM version be self-installing to accommodate novice computer users. We wrote an install program that booted the CD-ROM, checked to see which version of which browser was set as the default browser on the user's machine, and then automatically installed the correct version of the default browser. The install also checked for and installed the correct version of RealPlayer if it was not already on the user's machine so that the audio files would play. After properly configuring the user's machine, the install program launched the Product Tour.

Results:
Allen created an Internet-based Product Tour that can be accessed quickly and easily by anyone around the world, and which runs beautifully in both browsers from the Internet, CD-ROM, and hard-drive. This pcTELECOMMUTE Product Tour lets users explore the features and benefits available to them in this groundbreaking telecommuting software. Since the Product Tour was placed on Symantec's website, 75% of visitors to their Telecommuting Resource Center page (4000+/month), have gone through the pcTELECOMMUTE Product Tour. Symantec considers this to be a success, since educating the public is a very important component of their marketing strategy.

They plan to update the Product Tour when the next version of pcTELECOMMUTE comes out, and to create similar product tours for some of their other complex software products.

You can access the web version (no audio) on their website at: http://www-cu.symantec.com/telecommute/index.html

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