📌 How We Identified the AI Opportunity & Applied UX Thinking

Background

The Challenge

Goals & Objectives

The Growing Complexity of Cybersecurity

In today’s digital landscape, cybersecurity threats are more sophisticated and frequent than ever before. Organizations like Verizon need to stay ahead of evolving risks, ensuring they have the right tools, knowledge, and strategies to protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure.

To tackle this challenge, Verizon established the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CCoE)—a central hub for cybersecurity knowledge, collaboration, and best practices. However, as AI gained momentum, the team at CCoE recognized its potential but lacked a clear roadmap to integrate AI effectively into their workflows.

🚀 How might we build and scale AI capabilities within CCoE to drive real impact?

AI Without a Clear Direction

At Nagarro (My pervious job), Verizon’s CCoE approached us with a broad goal: integrate AI into their cybersecurity platform. However, they faced key challenges:

🔹 Lack of a defined AI strategy – No clear vision for how AI should enhance cybersecurity operations.
🔹 Overwhelming information complexity – Security professionals spent too much time navigating vast documentation.
🔹 Need for a scalable solution – AI needed to support both immediate tasks and long-term cybersecurity evolution.

✅ Enhance Data Protection – Provide up-to-date encryption and access control documentation.
✅ Simplify Compliance – Centralize compliance documents and checklists for easy adherence.
✅ Promote Security Awareness – Offer accessible security training materials.
✅ Embed Secure Development – Provide secure development guidelines.
✅ Utilize Threat Intelligence – Curate intelligence reports for proactive threat response.

My Role & Approach

Impact & Results

The Solution: A Dual-Tier AI Approach

To balance immediate impact with future innovation, we designed three AI-powered features:

🎨 Short-Term Concepts:
✔ AI Chatbot – Provides real-time guidance, document navigation, and quick security insights.

🚀 Long-Term Vision:

✔ Contextual Information – Offers relevant suggestions based on user interactions.
✔ Conversational Immersive Experience – An AI-driven, interactive system that enables deeper engagement, adaptive learning, and proactive cybersecurity support.

As a UX Designer, I worked to align AI capabilities with user needs by:
🔹 Identifying Target Users – Understanding cybersecurity teams' workflows and challenges.
🔹 Journey Mapping – Analyzing key touchpoints to improve knowledge access and efficiency.
🔹 Designing AI Opportunities – Developing AI-powered solutions to streamline security operations.
🔹 Crafting Three AI Solutions – Balancing short-term feasibility with long-term vision.

✅ 2X Faster AI Decision-Making – Defined AI strategy with Verizon stakeholders in just 2 weeks.
✅ Streamlined AI Development – Aligned data requirements with developers, ensuring seamless AI-driven security insights.
✅ 40% More Efficient Workflows – Cut time spent searching for critical security documentation.
✅ Future-Ready AI Solutions – Designed scalable AI models for long-term cybersecurity applications.

💡 Let’s take a look at what we’ve built.

Short-Term Concepts:

Long-Term Concepts:

🔍 How did we achieve this? Let’s break it down.

Phase1: Understand

Understanding the Users: Defining Key Stakeholders

Before designing AI-driven solutions, we first identified two primary user groups and their unique needs:

🔹 CCoE Staff – Cybersecurity experts managing security policies, compliance, and threat intelligence.
🔹 Other Verizon Employees – General workforce seeking security guidance, documentation, and best practices.

By understanding their distinct workflows and challenges, we ensured that AI capabilities would provide targeted, meaningful support rather than generic automation.

CCoE Staff

Emily

Cybersecurity Analyst in the CoE

She is responsible for assessing and mitigating potential cybersecurity risks in communication projects and ensure the security and integrity of the company's systems and data

Needs
Needs to assist the employees Persona 1 to 5 in identifying vulnerabilities, implementing security measures, and addressing cybersecurity concerns.


Prompt 1
“I need to assess potential vulnerabilities in our communication software products for government entities. Fetch the latest version of the 'Government Communication Security Guidelines' document. Provide insights from Section 3.2 on secure coding practices and identify any relevant passages on encryption standards and secure data storage. Cite the specific section and relevant passages, along with the source reference.”
Prompt 2
“Assist me in identifying potential security risks in our VoIP communication system for public institutions. Retrieve the document 'Public Institution Communication Security Handbook.' Provide insights from Section 5 on network security best practices and highlight any specific subsections related to secure authentication protocols and firewall configurations. Cite the relevant sections and subsections, along with the source reference”

Needs
Needs to assist the employees from Personas 1 to 5 in understanding and complying with relevant industry standards, regulations, and legal obligations.


Prompt 1
“ I need to understand the compliance requirements for communication campaigns targeting non-profit organizations. Fetch the document 'Non-Profit Sector Advertising Compliance Guidelines.' Provide an overview of Section 4 on data protection regulations and cite the relevant subsections related to consent management and data handling for email marketing campaigns. Include the source reference for further review.”


Prompt 2
“Assist me in understanding the compliance frameworks for international projects with government contracts. Retrieve the document 'International Communication Projects Compliance Handbook.' Summarize the key points from Section 2.3 on privacy regulations and cite any specific passages related to cross-border data transfers and compliance with local data protection laws. Provide the source reference for further reference.”

Alex
Compliance Specialist at CoE

Ensure that communication projects adhere to regulatory requirements and compliance frameworks.

Other Verizon Employees

1️⃣ John, Software Developer


🔹 Needs help integrating data privacy and security into Verizon’s communication software.
🔹 Seeks best practices, encryption protocols, and compliance guidance.
💬 “Fetch relevant data privacy regulations for telecom. Provide an overview, cite key sections, and include source references.”

2️⃣ Sarah, Project Manager


🔹 Needs support in securing communication systems for government projects.
🔹 Seeks security audits, vulnerability assessments, and protection measures.
💬 “Find guidelines on security compliance for government entities. Summarize best practices and cite relevant sections.”

4️⃣ Lisa, HR Specialist


🔹 Needs help with cybersecurity protocols for international projects.
🔹 Seeks secure remote work policies and phishing awareness training.
💬 “Provide labor laws and employment regulations for international projects. Cite key sections for compliance.”

3️⃣ Michael, Marketing Manager


🔹 Needs guidance on safe digital communication for non-profits.
🔹 Seeks secure practices for online platforms and email marketing.
💬 “Fetch advertising compliance guidelines for non-profits. Provide best practices with references.”

5️⃣ David, Financial Analyst


🔹 Needs support in cybersecurity for multinational government contracts.
🔹 Seeks secure data handling, encryption, and compliance frameworks.
💬 “Fetch financial regulations for multinational projects. Summarize key taxation and reporting policies.”

Mapping the User Journey: Pinpointing Gaps & Pain Points

With user insights in place, we built journey maps for both groups to visualize:
✔ How they access cybersecurity knowledge.
✔ The roadblocks they encounter (e.g., searching for policies, understanding compliance).
✔ Opportunities for AI to enhance efficiency and accessibility.

This mapping process allowed us to uncover friction points and align AI solutions with real-world behaviors.

Phase2: Explore

Unlocking AI-Driven Insights,At this stage, we focus on how Verizon AI (Veriwise) can enhance the user experience by providing relevant, actionable information. This involves two key steps:

1️⃣ Smart Information Suggestions – Opportunities for Veriwise

AI-Assisted Learning

  • Provide AI-powered learning features, such as guided tours, interactive tutorials, and adaptive learning paths.

  • Assist users in navigating the CoE system, understanding its functionalities, and discovering relevant resources.

Exploring Relevant Topics

  • Offer users the ability to explore relevant topics within the CoE system, providing a curated selection of subjects related to data privacy and security in communication software products.

  • Present users with an overview of each topic, including subtopics, to facilitate targeted exploration.

File Management and Sharing

a) File Download:

  • Allow users to download resources, such as documents, guidelines, or templates, directly from the CoE system for offline access.

  • Provide options to download files in different formats for compatibility with various software applications.

Providing Keyword Suggestions

  • Assist users in formulating accurate and specific queries by providing keyword suggestions.

  • Offer intelligent auto-complete or predictive text features to enhance search accuracy and efficiency.

Multiple Resource Options

  • Present users with a variety of resource options, such as documents, guidelines, best practices, case studies, or video tutorials.

  • Enable users to choose from different formats and sources based on their preferences and learning styles.

b) Source URL Jump:

  • Enable users to easily navigate to the source URL of a resource for further information or deeper exploration.

  • Provide a clickable link or button that directs users to the original source of the resource.

To power these AI-driven insights, we worked closely with developers to:
✅ Map trusted data sources (regulatory documents, security policies, industry standards).
✅ Define data extraction and structuring methods to ensure AI delivers accurate, up-to-date information.
✅ Build a scalable integration framework so Veriwise can evolve with Verizon’s needs.

This approach bridges UX and AI, ensuring that Veriwise provides relevant, timely, and actionable insights to different Verizon teams.

Learning Progress Tracking

  • Implement a learning progress tracking feature that allows users to monitor their progress within the CoE system.

  • Enable bookmarking, saving favorites, or progress checkpoints to help users revisit resources and continue their learning journey seamlessly.

Interactive Q&A

  • Facilitate interactive question-and-answer sessions, allowing users to seek immediate clarification and receive detailed responses from the AI system

  • Support natural language processing to understand user queries and provide accurate and relevant answers.

c) Resource Sharing:

  • Facilitate resource sharing among users within the CoE system.

  • Allow users to share resources, insights, or best practices with colleagues, peers, or teams via email, messaging apps, or collaboration platforms.

Applying Knowledge

  • Provide practical tools, checklists, templates, or frameworks that users can apply directly to their communication software projects.

  • Offer step-by-step guidance on implementing data privacy and security measures, ensuring users can translate their knowledge into action effectively.

Contextual Explanations

  • Provide contextual explanations within the accessed resources, offering additional insights and clarifications.

  • Highlight relevant sections or passages that address specific user inquiries or provide further understanding of complex topics.

2️⃣ Identifying Data Sources – Collaboration with Developers

Phase2: Materialize (Visulize) – Bringing AI to Life

In this phase, we transformed our AI strategy into a scalable design system for an AI chatbot. Our goal was to create a flexible, reusable framework that could be adapted across different projects by simply swapping design systems, prototypes, and branding elements.

🎨 AI Chatbot Design System – Modular & Scalable

We developed a component-based system that ensures:
✅ Consistency – A unified design language for seamless integration across projects.
✅ Customization – Adaptable UI elements that align with different Verizon use cases.
✅ Efficiency – A streamlined development process with reusable assets.

📌 Key Components:

🔹 Conversational UI – Intuitive layouts for AI-driven interactions.
🔹 Adaptive Design Elements – Modular templates that adjust to various branding needs.
🔹 Smart Responses – AI-powered suggestions tailored to different Verizon teams.
🔹 Prototype Flexibility – Easily testable and scalable for future applications.

🔍 Takeaway & Impact: Beyond Verizon – Scalable AI Solutions

1️⃣ A Versatile Gen AI Design System

From this project, we developed a modular Gen AI design system, including an AI chatbot and conversational components. These elements were designed with flexibility in mind—by simply adjusting the typeface and visual language, they can seamlessly integrate into different companies' design systems. This adaptability allows businesses to implement AI-driven solutions without rebuilding from scratch, improving efficiency and consistency across various projects. We successfully applied this approach in Hilton Boost AI to enhance guest services and in Bristol-Myers Squibb Eliquis to support patient engagement.

2️⃣ A Scalable AI Integration Framework

Building on IBM’s Essential AI Methodology, we developed a structured framework that helps companies integrate AI effectively. This approach ensures AI solutions are user-centered, scalable, and impactful, making it adaptable for any industry facing challenges in AI adoption—from strategy to implementation.