Companies that are going through digital transformations, especially those with a B2C model are likely to put their clients at the frontline priority. However, internal system capabilities tend to be ignored.
Before January 2018, the primary task of this project was to enhance the existing features or simple implementation of new requirements to the existing workflow. The initial information structure is no longer compatible with the increasing product types and categories to be accommodated on the same list.
I decided to look at the project with a switch of perspective: instead of only to accommodate the requirements from the business, think from the relationship managers point of view instead, to redesign the platform and help them to serve the clients better.

The platform was not designed to be sustainable. It was designed for a certain amount of features without considering the potential addition of information. With the further addition, the system became "patched" instead of "refined", started to lose the hierachy and became difficult to navigate for the users.

After discussing with our team lead, we decided to take the initiative and utilize one of the enhancement timelines to prioritize a workflow redesign.

I. Conducting research

We gathered some feedback by interviewing a few relationship managers (RMs) in house, as well as sending out a survey to a larger base of RMs in the region, to understand their current workflow based on the existing system, as well as the ideal scenario and their preferences.

II. Analysing feedback

As suspected, 80% of the features are underutilised, and the 20% of key information is scattered around and hard to navigate, working effort is duplicated and we are losing a lot of opportunities. Not only is this a bad experience for the users (RMs), but also directly impact the client's experiences.

III. Gathering insights

Based on the research findings, we were able to identify a few top insights:

- a list of the top metrics ranked by the RMs
- workflow of the RMs
- thinking processes of the RMs
- key information RMs look for when servicing individual clients.

IV. Testing ideas

We did some rapid prototyping by recreating a few versions of the dashboard and tested internally for the proof of concepts. We were able to decide on one concept to further iterate and presented to the RMs and business owners a version that is the most simple and easy to use.

V. Best teams work together

We were able to pull it off by getting the support from the business owners, the developers as well as our end users - the RMs. Although there were still pushbacks and compromises to be made due to the tight timeline, we were able to see through the changes in their workflow and the restructuring of the front-end system. We received emails from RMs saying that the system became easier to use and they are happy to see the changes.

Changes are difficult to make, which is why designers have an even higher responsibility to push for those changes. This is especially true for large corporations and companies that directly impact the life of people. The larger the scale of a corporation, the more essential it is to make decisions wisely and having users at heart when making those decisions. Design in corporations should carry a role of creating positive influences, allowing different teams to see their company's product not only as a revenue generating "machine", but something essential for our users such that they can interact with and benefit from.