NexTask

I led the redesign of a suite of SAAS enterprise products into a single web app.

The Challenge

Our users needed to quickly update consumer information and collect payments during a call. But workflows in our legacy product were fragmented across several tools, all open on screen at once. These tools were packed with irrelevant information. Our users felt burnt out and overwhelmed from using our products all day.

The Solution

I built stakeholder consensus to chart a design strategy for NexTask. We brought our suite of products into a single web-based app, significantly streamlined standard user flows and made them customizable by our enterprise customers. The new product yielded partnership offers from established communications platforms. Our revenue and customer outcomes greatly improved.

Results after the alpha release:

User Research

My design process began with research into the pain points experienced by users of our existing product. I coordinated directly with the management teams of our clients to set up research efforts with our users. My user research methods included:

• Journey mapping cross-functional workflows
• Field studies of existing solutions with contextual inquiry and structured interviews
• Tree tests to benchmark the information architecture followed by card sort ideation
• User surveys to identify customer base priorities and expectations

Information Architecture

A major finding from the user research was that an inefficient information architecture slowed and complicated most workflows. Fixing this was a priority for all of our clients. Using insights from multiple rounds of tree testing and card sorting, I restructured key user journeys and the information architecture of our app.

For example, manager-level users needed to build and manage communications campaigns. The existing solution was scattered across several tools, hindering real-time intervention. The solution brought all the relevant tools and analytics into one dashboard.

Accessibility

We found that there was a large gap between the efficiency of a new user and an experienced user. Our clients wanted to reduce the weeks of expensive training for new hires and the ongoing training burden of new features.

Having understood these user priorities, we developed a strategy to make our app more accessible:

• We revamped and extended existing keyboard controls so the application was entirely navigable by keyboard.
• We implemented several contextual ways to learn keyboard shortcuts. This included tooltips and hover states for buttons and menu items.
• We created a growing library of walkthroughs to standardize user training and feature rollouts.
• We provided a help menu with a single search field to find any feature in the app. Users could find all tutorials and keyboard controls in this dedicated location.

Customization

At this point in our design process, we had created a strong foundation for NexTask. But our clients has diverse and complex operational needs, and we intended to expand our market to new industries. We needed to provide a way for clients to customize our app for their context.

Our clients were dissatisfied with time and cost of current solution. They had to request ad hoc customizations from our team and wait for us to code them.

The customization framework I developed was simple to learn and easy to navigate. It balanced comprehensive depth with elegant accessibility. We built customization tools that empowered users to:

• Link the app to an external database using an API gateway.
• Construct custom user-facing interfaces.
• Automate compliance with fast-changing legal regulations.
• Define branching guided workflows for agents to follow, tailored to their current task.

User Testing

We released an MVP to a group of clients who joined our alpha program. I partnered with our customer success team to lead weekly user testing and feedback sessions. End users tested a new set of features throughout each week. Then we answered question, took qualitative feedback and administered surveys in our feedback sessions.

Our company provided the core database solution for our clients, so we had access to vast user analytics. We had worked with clients early in our design process to identify relevant KPIs to track. Progress two months of the Alpha release included: