Understanding the customer to unlock growth
What we did
Research & Workhops
Product Strategy
Mobile & Web Development
As a rapidly expanding leader in open-source document management systems, Alfresco was moving so fast that understanding their diverse customer & partner needs was falling behind
Tony Grout
Chief Product & Technology Officer
Mo Ladha
VP Product Management
For Tony and Mo the challenge was clear ↓
without robust customer insights, how could Alfresco continue to build products that genuinely empowered enterprises to manage their content effectively, while ensuring GDPR compliance & robust information governance?
Their user base was vast & varied: HR managers, call center staff, decision-makers, & IT professionals across industries like insurance & manufacturing. The team faced a pressing need to prioritise the different requirements of these user profiles & align their product roadmap to meet those needs.
To stay competitive & provide real value, Alfresco needed a deeper connection to their customers' true needs.
2
Enter littlevoice: A strategic partnership
Tony and Mo turned to us at littlevoice, as a team of experts in product development and customer research, to address this crucial gap.
Let's do this!
Hey, littlevoice!
Need your help
We were brought in not just for data collection but also for our cutting-edge techniques, like the Jobs-to-be-Done framework, to dive deep into Alfresco’s partner and customer ecosystem
jobs
pains
opportunities
And we didn’t just scratch the surface—we engaged with Alfresco’s significant customers, including Cisco, NASA, and Red Hat, mapping out customer journeys that reflected the nuanced needs of every user type.
This wasn’t about validating existing ideas; it was about revealing the untapped opportunities & pain points that would direct Alfresco’s next steps
3
Turning conversations into strategic gold
As Tony Grout explained,
Anybody can read a book about how to create a customer journey. But the real talent lies in taking customer conversations & turning them into insights that add genuine value to the product team
Through direct engagement with customers and partners, we helped Alfresco create detailed customer profiles and "jobs" that aligned with the users’ goals.
These insights gave Alfresco something invaluable: confidence that their product decisions were rooted in what customers needed, not just what they thought they wanted.
4
The transformation: from insights to innovation
The impact was immediate and transformative. Our research provided Alfresco with a clear direction, empowering them to accelerate product development with purpose and precision.
One of the key outcomes? A successful launch of a revamped mobile experience and an improved documentation portal—both of which directly addressed critical pain points customers had voiced
littlevoice’s perseverance in engaging with our B2B customers—and their ability to summarise findings clearly and coherently—was tremendously valuable. Their insights shaped our strategic investments and boosted our confidence that we could deliver exactly what our customers needed. They helped us speed up development and bring products to market faster, without sacrificing quality.
Tony Grout
Vice-President Product
Michelin (MCF)
5
A design that puts users first
The designs that emerged from our research were not just functional; they were transformative. By focusing on accessibility and usability, Alfresco drastically reduced the frustration users had long felt with traditional document management systems. With more intuitive workflows and a user-friendly interface, customers could now perform tasks more efficiently and with far less stress.
The results were clear: Alfresco’s products became more aligned with customer needs, helping their users not just work, but thrive
6
A lasting partnership for innovation
But perhaps the most significant outcome was how we didn’t just solve Alfresco’s immediate challenges; we empowered Alfresco’s product team to think differently.
littlevoice’s efforts made them an almost extended part of our product team. Their ability to validate our thinking and push us forward has been critical to building a product that truly resonates with our customers
Tony Grout
Vice-President Product
Michelin (MCF)
littlevoice didn’t just create a customer journey; they created a journey that added real value to our entire product organisation. Their work delivered the biggest bang for our buck in terms of making our customers happy
Tony Grout
Vice-President Product
Michelin (MCF)
In this partnership, Alfresco didn’t just unlock customer insights—they unlocked the potential to revolutionise how they build, design, and deliver products
And with littlevoice by their side, they’re equipped to continue that journey with confidence.
more work done with Alfresco
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Modeller
Design System
Doc Site
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