AdviceHub
How might we simplify complex capabilities across multiple experiences to create a more efficient workflow for associates to deepen and broaden client relationships?
Financial Services
Overview
Associates struggle to efficiently access essential client information due to disjointed applications, causing time inefficiencies and hindering their ability to provide optimal client service.
Problem
50+ distributed processes
A lack of cohesion across various tools for advisors has created a complex and challenging ecosystem to navigate.
Legacy platforms
The lack of integration across applications creates confusion, inefficiency, and manual errors.
Context sharing
Enabled client authentication sharing across systems to reduce tools by syncing data.
Consolidated 50% processes
Streamlined touchpoints for a more efficient workflow, allowing associates to enhance client relationships.
Approach
As a designer working on an associate facing platform, I needed to work alongside another designer and allocate time across supporting 8 product squads, so that we can incrementally deliver and implement while defining our product strategy.
Throughout 2-weeks, another designer and I partnered with our Client Business Solutions (CSB) to recruit 15 associate participants. Five associates from our three lines of business were engaged to validate our proposed Information Architecture (IA).
Methodology
We decided to moderate a usability test to learn how our proposed navigation can scale to support our evolving user groups and their needs. By validating our IA, we measured the effectiveness of our proposed sitemap before starting development, which can cost more to update if we develop without any user feedback.
Throughout 2-weeks, another designer and I partnered with our Client Business Solutions (CSB) to recruit 15 associate participants. Five associates from our three lines of business were engaged to validate our proposed Information Architecture (IA).
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Key findings
- Overall, users responded very well to the simplified navigation, describing it as Simplified or Easy to use.
- All back-office participants strongly favored direct access to specific workflow tools/features (initiating out of client context) when they needed them.
- All participants saw value in a functional home page highlighting their next best area of focus.
- The majority of the participants thought the overall experience was simple and easy to navigate.
- Most participants would expect to see customized information related to them and their role on the home page, especially high-risk items that need their attention.
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Recommendations
- Refines roles and responsibilities to ensure proper permissions and access across platform.
- Continue to expand data sourcing with various APIs to reduce needing to gather client information gathered in other tools.
- Conduct a deeper analysis into information architecture as more products are consolidated in AdviceHub.
- Ensure complex data tables are accessible, especially tables with interaction like forms and advanced filtering.
- Define preliminary sentiment and task completion metrics to quantify and qualify user experience.
User Flow
Constraints
Tool consolidation was a driver in decommissioning mainframe digital experiences. Unfortunately, this meant migrating features and capabilities before completing information architecture studies.
Critical
Our platform stability dominated team velocity.
Our team prioritized enhancements and defects based on our users’ ability to complete tasks.
Risk
User experience was not immediate priority
Multiple teams contributed in early stages, creating challenges to maintain code and design quality while our product strategy was being defined.
Current state
Ideation
To scale our platform infrastructure, another designer and I prioritized iteration on our information architecture to pave a path for migrating remaining data and complex workflows.
Global navigation
We tested a variety of visual treatments for our navigation while consolidating our features and shifting towards a client-focused paradigm.
User filtering
We explored a variety of options to filter associates by role to consolidate client books to review to prioritize near or overdue actions.
Features
As a product team, we updated to our latest design system to leverage CSS grid capabilities to define and align page layouts across our experience.
Personalized worklist
We delivered the ability for users to create and save preferences on client books with actions.
Enhanced user alerts
We implemented automated events for new or updated work items.
UI enhancements
We updated our design system to the latest version to align with our enterprise design strategy.
Key screens
Updated dashboard
One-click access to advice tools such as transition analysis, fee estimation, and gradual investing.
Centralized client books
To open a client profile, search using the Social Security Number (SSN) or the Account Number.
Client Profile
View plan summary, upcoming reviews, accounts, and goals.
Mange client data
Create and manage account profiles, review wealth management plans, enable resource access, edit profiles, and recalculate fee households.
Worklist management
Develop a consolidated worklist with urgent items prioritized, sortable plan review lists, notifications for goal status, and simplified client data management.
Impact
By centering our strategy on efficiency, user experience, and effective solutions, we achieved a design iteration that surpassed our annual goals.
2,800+
Work items processed in 2021
1000 users
80% increase from 2020
2100+
Days of wait time reduced
Takeaway
Advocating for a human-first experience instead of a technology-driven one can be challenging. However, finding ways to present alternate design solutions to persuade one option over another is vital for growing persuasive skills with cross-functional teams.
Lessons learned
- Partner closely with our scrum master to help influence and shape design as part of our product development lifecycle.
- Reduce jargon by understanding terminology being used and partnering with content strategy to enhance for users.
- Leverage existing UX resources to help educate and influence stakeholders on accessibility and complex patterns like multi-select and bulk edit operations.
Some potential next steps
- Ease-of-use metrics to measure effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction.
- Continue to iterate on detailed design based on user testing insights.
- Partner with architects to create even more component and API integrations to support modular reusability across the firm.
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