Design and Delivery of a SaaS Platform for AI-Enabled Cybersecurity Management
Global Leader in Network & Cybersecurity | Sector: Cloud Security & AI
The client is a mid-sized global technology leader specializing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Managed SD-WAN, and Zero Trust WAN services. Their offerings are built to secure and optimize cloud access across hybrid environments, ensuring robust performance and compliance for enterprise networks.
With a mission to lead innovation in cybersecurity, the client planned to launch a new SaaS platform targeting Generative AI services, helping enterprises manage firewall configurations, AI security protocols, and compliance in real time.
The Challenge:
To bring this vision to life, the client needed a web platform to serve as a unified interface for tenant organizations to manage cloud security configurations tied to Gen AI services.
- Modular Complexity: Multiple security modules with different owners and business functions needed to be presented in one seamless, intuitive platform
- Fragmented UX: Existing APIs were in place, but lacked a cohesive and structured user experience that could unify navigation across services.
- Multi-Stakeholder Input: Each service module had different requirements and stakeholders, necessitating an iterative and collaborative design process.
- Sensitive AI Prompt Filtering: Given the nature of Gen AI, safeguards had to be built in to detect and filter non-compliant or sensitive language at the input stage.
Our Solution
Applying a Design Thinking Framework
To solve these challenges, we followed a structured Design Thinking approach, ensuring human-centered design and business alignment across all phases.
Phase 1: Empathize
Activities:
- Conducted stakeholder workshops with product owners and engineers
- Interviewed tenant users to understand pain points around firewall policy management and cloud access configurations
Insights Gained:
- Users needed better visibility into policy hierarchies
- Configuration errors were often caused by unclear interfaces
- AI security policies required granular control and real-time validation
Phase 2: Define
Key Deliverables:
- Mapped inter-service interactions and configuration touchpoints
- Built a functional interaction matrix to map user actions to platform responses
- Defined a role-based permission system for granular access control
This phase established the structural blueprint for the user experience and clarified technical dependencies between modules.
Phase 3: Ideate
Design Workshops and Iterations:
- Created low-fidelity wireframes to explore layout and navigation options
- Reviewed multiple interface concepts with stakeholders
- Consolidated feedback to refine usability and alignment with backend APIs
Phase 4: Prototype
Developed High-Fidelity Prototypes to simulate the user experience across:
- AI prompt validation workflows
- Firewall policy configuration
- Role-based access management
- Cloud access management for Gen AI apps
Stakeholders validated the design through interactive demos representing real-world use cases.
Phase 5: Test
We conducted multiple validation sessions and usability tests.
Findings & Actions:
- Identified API mismatches and worked with backend teams to adjust response formats
- Added additional AI prompt filters to ensure ethical AI outputs
- Refined user flows to eliminate friction in switching between modules
Phase 6: Implement
We worked closely with the development team to translate the design into a fully functioning front-end interface.
Technology Stack:
- Frontend: React.js with centralized state management
- Design: Figma and FigJam for design kits and collaborative workflows
- Middleware Integration: Custom API mapping to bind services dynamically
- Security: Azure AD role-based access control
- Deployment: SaaS deployment with scalable architecture
Delivered Solution
A SaaS-based cybersecurity management platform that enabled:
- Configuration of Gen AI firewall policies across cloud environments
- Real-time AI prompt filtering to prevent policy violations
- Role-based access to service modules with high visibility and control
- Centralized dashboard for security monitoring and performance metrics
Implementation Deliverables
- Information Architecture & User Journey Maps
- Low and High-Fidelity Designs
- Interactive Prototypes for Stakeholder Review
- Frontend Development with Integrated API Binding
- Scalable Role-Based Permission Management
- Client-Specific Design Kit for Future Iterations
Impact & Results
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Challenges Faced:
- Continuous coordination across stakeholders from different security domains
- Complex API mapping that required multiple adjustments mid-development
Lessons Learned:
- Early alignment between design and engineering teams reduced iterations
- Documenting user flows and API specs during prototyping improved handoffs
- Daily feedback loops helped resolve blockers in near real-time
Conclusion:
By applying a user-first design process, We delivered a unified, scalable platform that simplifies Gen AI cybersecurity management. The platform not only empowers enterprises to configure firewall and AI policies but ensures high compliance standards across all cloud environments. This engagement demonstrates our ability to translate complex security products into intuitive, scalable digital experiences for enterprise clients.