IBM Cloud Backup & Recovery

IBM Cloud Backup & Recovery is a fully managed backup service that simplifies enterprise data protection for VPC, VMware, and Kubernetes workloads. Built for security-conscious organizations like BNPP and American Airlines, the product eliminates infrastructure management overhead while meeting stringent compliance requirements.

Following the product experience vision established in Project Databunker — including the Big Ideas workshop output that shaped the post-GA roadmap — I transitioned into leading UX execution for the product’s general availability launch. Over 1.5 years I oversaw 70+ UI pages, drove 80+ design enhancements, and influenced a foundational architectural decision that removed the #1 adoption blocker for enterprise customers.

We do not want to manage another piece of infrastructure for a managed service.

BNPP — Paris workshop with 9 BP2i team members

The challenge: deliver a managed backup service across 5 regions while navigating complex stakeholder dynamics between IBM and our vendor partner. The initial architecture required customers to manage a SaaS Connector — additional infrastructure they had to provision and maintain — which directly contradicted the value proposition of a fully managed service.

This sentiment was echoed by QAD across 3 separate sessions. The SaaS Connector was adding unnecessary complexity and blocking adoption for security-conscious enterprise clients.

I designed and executed hi-fi clickable prototypes for the Backup & Recovery Manager (Helios) dashboard to demo unreleased features and gather real-time feedback. Users tested end-to-end backup experiences within context — not hypotheticals.

Research artifacts

1. 01

   UX Readiness for General Availability

   Oversaw design and development of 70+ UI pages and subpages. Designed and implemented usability improvements across 17 UI pages. Integrated critical documentation entry points throughout the experience. Managed 80+ individual design enhancements to improve task success and user satisfaction.

2. 02

   Sponsor-User Research to Identify Critical Friction

   Facilitated 9 user engagements including in-person workshops with BNPP (Paris), American Airlines, and QAD. Led moderated sessions where users tested end-to-end backup experiences using hi-fi clickable prototypes.

3. 03

   Advocated for Architectural Change

   Armed with user feedback, I presented findings to 233 stakeholders across IBM and our vendor. The SaaS Connector — which required customers to provision additional compute — contradicted the managed service value proposition and blocked adoption at BNPP.

4. 04

   Cross-organizational Collaboration

   Ran weekly UX/UI alignment syncs to streamline decision-making. Educated vendor designers on IBM Carbon design system and accessibility principles. Created scorecards for IKS/ROKS, SAP HANA, and Oracle workload experiences shared with the vendor for feedback.

5. 05

   Marketing and Enablement Assets

   Created 3 product demonstration videos (overview, in-depth walkthrough, feature highlights) and marketing assets for the IBM.com launch page.

Before (SaaS Connector): Customers had to provision and manage additional compute resources. Security constraints prevented adoption — BNPP explicitly would not use it. Misaligned with AWS and Azure, which use agent-based architectures.

After (Gateway Agent): Agent installed directly on customer workloads — a familiar architecture. No additional infrastructure for customers to manage. Setup simplified by 50% by removing tedious connector provisioning steps.

Two roadmap items secured:

1. Connected Component — streamlined onboarding reducing setup time by 50% (UMUX-Lite score: 70.84)
2. Gateway Agent — agent-based data mover eliminating customer infrastructure management (targeted 1H 2026)

IBM Cloud Backup & Recovery launched in December 2025 across 5 multi-zone regions. BNPP and QAD both confirmed that eliminating the SaaS Connector made the service viable for their security and operational requirements — removing the #1 adoption blocker before launch prevented future rework and positioned the product for $11M in projected first-year revenue.

This project reinforced the power of user advocacy as a design tool. The most impactful work wasn’t the UI polish — it was using real user feedback to challenge a foundational architectural assumption and secure organizational buy-in for a better solution.

By positioning design as a bridge between user needs and technical feasibility, I helped shift the product direction before launch. Presenting the same user quote across multiple forums — backed by prototypes and scorecards — was what ultimately moved the needle across 233 stakeholders at two organizations.