01 / T-Mobile · IoT Connectivity · Case study · current

The IoT Connectivity Framework — redesigned end-to-end from pre-sales to implementation.

T-Mobile's IoT solutions help businesses connect, monitor, and manage devices at scale across the company's 5G and LTE networks. The intake framework that drives every deal — vertical, network, hardware, security, bandwidth, international, resource assignment — used to live in a Salesforce dual-list-picker hellscape. This is the redesign.

IoT5G / LTEB2B platformsPre-sales → contracting9-section frameworkCross-functional
Prefer the scroll edition? →
MetaEngagement
Client
T-Mobile for Business (Bellevue, WA)
Timeline
Oct 2024 — Mar 2026 · 18 mo
Role
Lead Product Designer (Contract)
Scope
End-to-end IoT flow: pre-sales · sales · pricing · contracting · implementation
Partners
IoT AE · Solution Architects · Connectivity SI/PAPN · HSI/Collab/Security Specialists · Solution Implementation Mgrs
Stack
Salesforce Lightning · custom internal tools · GuideCX
Status
9 of 9 sections shipped to production · 6 follow-on intake frameworks in queue

Hero · the redesign itself. Section 5 (Security requirements) rebuilt: stepper across the top with completion state, three meta-questions deriving 8 of 11 fields, ownership and downstream consequences visible in the rail. Compare the legacy screen: two bare dropdowns, a disconnected progress rail, and ten more fields hiding behind "Next."

01 / ProblemThe "before" was Salesforce out-of-the-box

A 9-section intake that nobody could actually complete in one sitting.

The original Connectivity Framework intake was a 9-step Salesforce form using dual-list-pickers, multi-select dropdowns nested inside dropdowns, and "View all dependencies" links that opened other Salesforce records. Average completion time on the legacy form was 47 minutes for trained IoT AEs. The actual content — vertical, network, hardware, security — was sound. The interface was making the work impossible.

Layered on top: an internal design system built for general Salesforce CRM use, not for technical configuration, and a change process that ran through two PM organizations and an enablement team. What follows is what shipped within those constraints — and, where it matters, the version I'd ship without them.

02 / E2E phasesUser journey · pre-sales → implementation

Five phases. Five owners. One framework moving between them.

The intake isn't an isolated form — it's the artifact that crosses five organizational boundaries. Each phase owner picks up a partially-filled framework and either advances it, kicks it back, or escalates. Designing the framework meant designing the handoffs.

Phase · 01

Pre-sales discovery

Owner · SDR + IoT AE

Was: SDR collects loose notes in chat. AE re-derives every requirement.

Phase · 02

Sales qualification

Owner · IoT AE

Was: Framework intake started here, mid-funnel. Too late.

Phase · 03

Pricing & quote

Owner · Solution Architect + ISA

Was: Solution architect had to re-interview customer to fill bandwidth + international.

Phase · 04

Contracting

Owner · Legal + AE

Was: Hardware + security sections often blocked deals at this stage.

Phase · 05

Implementation

Owner · Solution Impl. Mgr + Connectivity SI/PAPN

Was: Implementation team starting fresh; 30% rework on average.

Reading this as a user journey is the key move. The intake isn't a form — it's a baton. Phase-by-phase responsibility is what the redesign foregrounded.

03 / Framework stepperAll 9 sections, in order, with owners

Information → Resource Assignment. Each section opens to a redesigned screen.

Scroll — each section takes the stage, then collapses to its title bar above as the next one arrives. Real fields from the legacy Salesforce form, redesigned. Click any title to jump. Every section applies the same four moves: semantic grouping, gate questions first, smart defaults with visible provenance, downstream consequences stated inline.

Representation. The production screens live in T-Mobile's Salesforce org and can't be shown directly; this mock is rebuilt in HTML with the real field names, grouping, and derivation logic from the shipped redesign. Data values are illustrative.

04 / RACIWho owns what across the 9 sections

The intake is a baton. The RACI shows the handoffs.

Before the redesign, ownership was implicit and contested. The new framework surfaces it inline on every section header. R responsible · A accountable · C consulted · I informed.

Section / roleIoT AESol. Arch.SecurityHSIImpl. Mgr
01 · InformationACIII
02 · Solution InformationCACCI
03 · Existing SolutionsACIII
04 · HardwareCRCIA
05 · Security RequirementsCCACI
06 · High BandwidthCCIAI
07 · Trial / OnboardingRCICA
08 · InternationalACCCI
09 · Resource AssignmentCCIIA
05 / Decision logicCascading constraint graph

Vertical drives Network. Network drives Hardware. Hardware drives Security.

The decision graph below shows the dependency chain the redesigned framework enforces. Choosing Vertical = Supply Chain & Logistics narrows Network to 3 options (from 8), which narrows compatible OEM models to 11 (from 30+), which drops the SIM specifications that won't apply.

Fig 1 — Active path highlighted for an example Supply Chain & Logistics opportunity. Each node is a fielded option; edges are downstream constraints that auto-filter the next step.

Fig 2 — The deal-flow dependency graph the framework lives inside. Intake feeds quote logic and custom pricing directly — not just the next step. The dashed edge is the reopen path: renegotiation at contracting edits pricing state, not documents.

06 / ArtifactsImage slots reserved

The artifacts that didn't fit inline.

07 / Outcomes90 days post-rollout · 240 deals processed

Faster intake. Fewer handoff rejections. More deals reaching contracting.

Intake completion time−71%47 min → 13 min · same AE cohort
Handoff rework rate−58%Sections kicked back from Solution Arch.
Pre-sales-to-contract velocity+34%Median time-in-stage across 240 deals
AE satisfaction (CSAT)4.6 / 5vs 2.1 / 5 on legacy form
08 / ReflectionDefend / what politics cost
What I'd defend

Treating the intake as a journey, not a form.

The framework is a baton crossing five organizational boundaries. Once that was named explicitly, every interaction decision (chip vs dropdown, conditional show/hide, smart defaults) had a principled answer.

What politics cost

The LLM intake. The mobile-first restructure for field reps.

Both are sitting in review. The version on this page is what shipped under enterprise design-system constraints. The unconstrained version would have launched 4 months earlier, with 30% better completion times.