Solving for

I worked to modernize a legacy B2B account dashboard to bring relevant account information quickly and efficiently to customers. I integrated new communication features to simplify and quickly surface alerts and notifications.

Bumps in the Process

An element of the process that was a challenge was the technology gaps and business goal deadlines. Older architecture limited the dashboard's updating, and high business goal demands led to a bumpy first release.

To ensure a smooth release, I reviewed the designs with development to find the best solution within the limitations. Using research data and development feedback, I presented the iteration release plan to the business, illustrating how we will get from MVP to the desired product while capturing usability data along the way.

Responsibilities

Write & plan sprint stories
Perform generative and evaluative research
Synthesize research data
Build & test interactive prototypes
Present recommendations to stakeholders
Prepare & present deliverables for the development team
Negotiate with businesses & development for the best customer experience

Knowledge Sharing

I researched and designed internal design team processes to standardize and organize documentation and release strategy. I brought back and shared different methods with my team to help tackle complex design challenges.

Skill Share

Sharing my new methodology, OOUX. The practice of defining a system of objects before designing. Strategically sperate content and display

CDW Work

Notification & Action Items

Background: Customers' feedback was that they missed or didn’t see expired credit cards and important alerts like software renewals. Missing these has caused customer issues such as lost revenue and thousands of dollars for quick software solutions. I introduced an experience that digital users have interacted with before, notifications and action items.

Action items on the account dashboard aim to reduce friction for possible account blockers by making alerts and account updates easily accessible.
Notifications in the main navigation within reach of the customer throughout the experience. This allows the customer to stay in the know at all times.

Process to outcomes:
Due to technology limitations, only two alert channels were feasible for the first release. However, I negotiated the two channels that could generate the most revenue and reduce time-consuming phone calls to account reps: quotes and purchase approvals. This led to a 6% revenue increase in the first 4 months of release.

Due to security protocols, the customer has to log in to see the notification; legal and security did not approve cookies or auto sign-in. However, we could show a visual icon alert for new notifications without logging in, increasing login by 32%.

Action Items a CDW account to-do list located at the top of a customer dashboard reduced clicks by 60%. The one-click solutions for a needed order approval increased the Add to Cart conversations by 26%.

Iteration

Customer interactions on Action Items and Notifications provide behavioral data that wasn’t explicit in discovery. Insights showed a desire for more visual data and less scrolling, influencing a compact and comfortable view innovation.

Outcomes

Action Items and Notifications, 2 new alert features on CDW helped direct the customer to account interrupting communications with one click solutions. CDW customers are on a time crushs to get new or replacement hardware and software. The two channels made the customers time on CDW.com efficient and effective.
“…if it wasn’t for the renewal task in action items my team’s Adobe Suite would have expired. And would have been a pain in the *** to deal with.” - CDW Customer

AI Chat Bot

Account reps would spend hours a week fielding calls from customers regarding light inquiries, such as similar product recommendations or order updates.
These calls would take focus away from their ability to concentrate on new business and high-revenue enterprise orders.

The question was, “How can we leverage technology to help take small tasks off the plates of account reps?”

Introduction Landing Page Banner — Meet and Greet

Customers often have strong relationships with human account representatives, so I wanted to introduce the new “employee” to our customers to build trust and confidence to also rely on CDW chatbot.

When customers interact with a chatbot, they expect the conversation to flow like every other conversation they have had. They get frustrated when they have to repeat or answer in a specific way.

Using existing chat data, I created conversation flows with communication intents. Using the flows, I collaborated with development when building quick response and error handling. Conversation design was the focus when developing the pilot CDW chatbot.

Learning to talk

Using chat data, I started to map out how conversations could flow. Here, I learned where to design error fallback and confirmation on chat intent.

Light lift

CDW’s chatbot could handle the light load from account reps and provide quick 24/7 help to online customers. In doing so CDW’s chatbot had an increased revenue of 5%

Closing the conversation

It is important to communicate clearly at the end of the conversation while maintaining a natural two-way interaction and giving control over the human and computer interaction.

Testing with internal SME and copy experts, the chatbot conversation designs reached a test approval of above 90%. The sucess was clear after presenting to leadership, the chatbot was presented at the annual partners showcase and the chatbot was funded for develpment.

Ready For Delivery Structure

The delivery files were structured to deflect confusion. They lead with a cover description page followed by a taxonomy page and a high-fidelity prototype (alerts current version not shown for proprietary reasons) that is handed off to the development team after a walk-through.

Borrowing from cross-functional team experience, an initiative I brought was a new RDF file structure. Listening and working with developers, I saw an opportunity to help save time for the teams by explaining the files in a walk-through and annotations they could refer to during the build. It also served as archival documentation of the reasons for recommendations.

The RDF file structure saw reduced time blockers for off-shore development teams. The walk-through cleared in advance confusion, and the annotations removed element UI & behavior questions.