03 — The Solution
A universal product assistant
We proposed VMware Solution Navigator—a widget application that ships with every VMware product, acting as an intelligent guide to help users discover integrated workflows, documentation, and cost-saving product combinations.
A note on timing: This concept was developed in November 2021, more than a year before ChatGPT and the explosion of AI chatbot interfaces. Our vision of an intelligent, conversational assistant embedded directly into enterprise software demonstrated prescient thinking about how AI could transform product discovery and cross-platform integration.
Core concept
Solution Navigator functions as "a mini Launchpad" embedded in each product, powered by an AI and ML-aggregated database of VMware's entire product catalog. It provides contextual, real-time recommendations based on what users are trying to accomplish.
The diagram above illustrates how the widget sits at the center of VMware's product ecosystem, intelligently connecting customers to integrated workflows across all products through a unified knowledge base.
05 — How It Works
Jason's story: Deploying containers
To illustrate Solution Navigator's value, we created a user journey following Jason, a Cloud Admin at Hardtop Hotels.
The challenge
Jason heard that customers can now run containers on vSphere 7 and wanted to explore Kubernetes deployment. However, he didn't know where to start or which VMware products could help.
The complete customer journey from encountering a problem to discovering integrated solutions, purchasing discounted products, and successfully completing their task.
Discovery through the widget
Jason noticed the Solution Navigator widget icon in the bottom-right corner of his vSphere Client screen. Clicking it revealed a search panel where he entered: "How to deploy containers in vCenter..."
The Solution Navigator widget appears as an icon in the bottom-right corner of every VMware product interface, providing always-available access to contextual guidance.
When activated, the panel slides in from the right with a prominent search bar prompting users to "Ask the Navigator..."—a conversational interface pattern that predated the 2022 AI chatbot boom.
The panel displays curated workflows, documentation, videos, and promotional offers—all contextual to Jason's query about deploying containers in vCenter.
The interface highlights the "MONTHLY SPECIAL: Tanzu Standard for Multi-Cloud" promotion and provides direct access to VMware experts via the "Talk to a VMware Expert" button.
Seamless activation
Jason clicked "Activate the TKG Service," which launched a guided journey in VMware Cloud's Launchpad. Within minutes, he had Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service activated on his cluster—a process that would have required extensive research and trial-and-error otherwise.
06 — Impact & Vision
Transforming the VMware experience
Solution Navigator was designed to create value for both customers and VMware by turning product fragmentation into a strength.
Customer benefits
The assistant increases work efficiency and productivity by surfacing cost-saving solutions and improving product discoverability. Customers gain domain knowledge and develop stronger relationships with VMware experts, while experiencing greater product interoperability across their infrastructure.
Business impact
For VMware, the initiative drives increased product consumption and customer loyalty. By improving cross-BU collaboration and tightening product integration, VMware can better market integrated solutions. The assistant also reduces support costs through self-service guidance and creates new advertising opportunities within the existing customer base.
“VMware Solution Navigator has elevated Jason's IT game to a new level. By using the app, Jason is now confident his VMware technical problems will be much easier to solve.”
07 — Reflection
Prescient design in enterprise software
This design borathon challenged us to think holistically about VMware's product ecosystem rather than optimizing individual products. The most valuable insight was recognizing that customers don't think in terms of business units—they think in terms of problems to solve.
Ahead of the curve
We designed Solution Navigator in November 2021—more than a year before ChatGPT's release and the subsequent proliferation of conversational AI interfaces across enterprise software. The concept of an embedded, context-aware assistant that could understand natural language queries and surface integrated solutions was innovative for enterprise B2B products at the time.
This timing demonstrates vision and intuition about where software interaction patterns were heading. While consumer AI assistants like Siri and Alexa existed, applying conversational AI to complex enterprise workflows—particularly for cross-product integration and discovery—represented forward thinking that would only become standard practice years later.
Outcome-centric design
Solution Navigator represented a shift from product-centric to outcome-centric design. Rather than asking "How do we improve Product X?" we asked "How do we help customers accomplish Goal Y across our entire portfolio?" This reframing opened new possibilities for creating value through integration rather than feature expansion.
While this remained a concept project, it influenced subsequent thinking about cross-product integration at VMware and established patterns for contextual assistance that would prove increasingly relevant as AI capabilities matured.
