PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

UX Challenges

I spent six weeks traveling across the US interviewing financial advisors and their assistants to gather a better understanding of their daily workflow and pain points. The consensus was consistent across the board. They all wanted a more simple, modern interface with less noise, with integrated workflows that minimized the need to use multiple software applications. 

During a design workshop I held with product owners and stakeholders, we first reviewed our personas reacquainting ourselves with our target audience. Next we evaluated the existing solution and identified the high-level problem areas and determined that we needed to simplifying what our users do today by sunsetting and/or merging the overlapping workflows and bring forth the most relevant information FA’s need to do their job more efficiently. We all agreed on a direction. 

UX Solutions

I sketched out ideas on the direction agreed upon - a simplified workflow, with less noise, more actionable items, more relevant data - removing the need to hunt information out. 

We added the ability to automate a client call list. This could be generated based on scheduled appointments in their CRM, the need to rebalance their account, or a financial plan or goal misaligned. 

We replaced the generic news headlines with more tailored news. Users want to know why we are showing them this article. So we highlight news events that may impact their book of business and tie it to specific clients. 

We also wanted to reduce the amount of work around risk and compliance. In EMEA especially, advisors struggle with investment choices due to regulations. So we can offer up what a particular client can and cannot invest in up front without the additional leg work. 

We also heard from users that collaboration was needed. So we created a task tool to assign, review and comment on within the app in context. This way each person can see what action they need to take next. 

Lastly, we took the polished workflow to clients to gather feedback and to see if we were on the right track. This is key - we learned there are few minor holes we initially missed, but otherwise we were on target to push the needle forward with our nextgen solution. Even better, we delighted the client. They were anxious to get their hands on the new workflow.