Challenge:
A growing problem for anyone who uses email is the phenomenon of multiple email accounts and identities that require the effort of visiting separate urls, logging in with a variety of usernames and inputting a distinct password to get to our mail boxes. Associated with that effort is the task of remembering and managing each one of those urls, usernames, and passwords and the various conventions

required by each. Finally, once you've accessed your email account, the interface with which you interact can vary considerably, making the whole experience quite frustrating. The Beendo team created a technical solution whereby a user can easily and securely access their aggregated POP and web-based email accounts at a single site with a single username and password. Sprout Designs was brought into the project to help develop the Beendo brand, architect and design a simple and easy user interface for the tool.

Solution:

The Sprout team began by scouring the web for email applications, capturing the best practices from each and inventorying the various features and functionality to be offered in the Beendo product. Careful consideration was given to each component to ensure it met the needs of users while staying true to the email metaphors with which they were already familiar.

Adoption would require that the product effectively hide the technical configurations involved with redirecting email to a single account and make the process as simple as inputting a username and password and clicking a button – effort further streamlined through the development of an account setup wizard. Finally, the product roadmap dictated a design and architecture that would accommodate additional features and functionality planned for 2008.

Results:

The introduction of the Beendo email aggregation product is targeted at college students and small businesses to test the effectiveness of the design and identify the next set of features and functionality. Beendo was so pleased with Sprout's professional approach, thorough process and strategic thinking that they have engaged us to help with the launch, testing, and future development of this tool as well as conceptualize and plan for the development of other products currently in the early concept stage.

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Challenge:
BMW's Technology Offices function as the research labs responsible for prototyping, experimentation with new systems, and development of future products. With offices around the world working on hundreds of projects at any given time, the team needed a method of tracking their work and managing the relationships between projects, personnel, and contacts within the universities and

corporations that they partner with in the development of new technologies.

Solution:
The solution proposed and developed by Sprout works within the confines of BMW's existing intranet architecture and serves as a repository for all current and historical project related data.

The tool enables users to access data on any project using a variety of search criteria, and the familiar browser-based interface eliminates time and energy often spent learning a new system. A simple user interface handles the searching, content creation, and information display to users around the world inside and outside of BMW's corporate environments.

Results:
Sprout's solution was originally deployed in the Palo Alto Technology Office but quickly rolled out and adopted by all

of BMW's Technology Offices around the world. This new centralized project repository provides global exposure to local project activities and enables connectivity, communications, and information sharing between offices that didn't previously exist.

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Challenge:
Farmers in Africa and India are in constant need of product information to enable them to improve their farming methods and more effectively leverage their available natural resources. Sources of this information are scarce and only marginally accessible and so farmers inadvertently find themselves dependent upon large-scale manufacturers who are focused on selling their own products rather than identifying and meeting a specific

need. Recognizing an opportunity to bridge this gap, the Gates Foundation engaged Sprout Designs to strategize, design and develop a web-based application that would connect small-scale farmers to the resources they need to improve their lives.

Solution:
The solution lay in piloting a low bandwidth website with networking and idea-sharing capability as well as a curated and centralized repository of categorized product information. Acknowledging the fact that the sought out information exists but is simply not readily accessible was the first step towards identifying a viable solution. NGOs, government organizations, nonprofits, and universities are rife with resources conducting research and documenting findings, but few are equipped to publish the data and even fewer have the means to make it available to a global audience let alone a multi-cultural, technologically diverse, and/or remote user base. The FIELD website offers all those capabilities.

Results:
The FIELD website pilot was launched in October 2007 with categorized product information and a Foundation-sponsored challenge grant to engage interested parties in participating. The next steps will involve developing out additional content and implementing an enhanced site search capability to improve the speed of information delivery independent of location, bandwidth, platform and/or device restrictions. In addition, we are working with the Foundation to expand the system into publishing for multiple funding areas across the Foundation including the Open Libraries project. As the project continues, we're excited to report we're well on the way to connecting small-scale farmers in India and Africa with the much-needed resources needed to improve their farming methods & better their quality of life.

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