Overview
Recognizing the untapped potential within its workforce, the Digital Marketplace is a platform to empower the culture of innovation by providing finance employees with a dedicated platform where they can share, develop, and collaborate on their innovative ideas.
The goal of this project was to provide all employees within the finance department with a platform that assists in fostering innovation giving individuals and teams the opportunity to share their ideas, develop their ideas and collaborate with co-workers.
Role
User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing, Front-end Development
January 2021 and ongoing
Project Goals:
- Create a user-friendly platform that encourages cross-functional collaboration.
- Promote a culture of innovation and upskilling within the corporate environment.
- Improve communication and knowledge sharing among employees.
- Enhance project management and workflow efficiency.
- Provide a scalable and customizable solution for various teams.
Conducting the research
The project kicked off with conducting user research with user interviews to identify the current user journey and identify the pain points within it as well as determining the success rates of getting an innovation off the ground and running.
My research encompassed:
- Understanding the user goals and needs
- Uncovering pain points with the existing user journey
- Determining the success rates of getting an innovation off the ground and running
Following the user interviews the insights were gathered and the UX team conducted affinity mapping to find common themes within the user insights.
Key Insights:
- There is a clear need for a central place for employees to share ideas.
- Users want to have continued insight, transparency, and opportunity for continued collaboration with the ideas they share.
- Users want to learn platforms used within the enterprise enhance their skillset and provide new opportunities for innovation.
- Feedback that a clear path for enhanced collaboration and cross-functional synergy is needed.
- Innovation duplication is prevalent because of the lack of transparency cross-functionally.
After wrapping up user interviews and distilling key insights, the team faced a crucial decision: whether to task IT with building the project from scratch or to explore third-party solutions as a more efficient and potentially cost-effective means to develop the platform. I assisted the stakeholders in attending demonstrations of third-party solutions and conversations with IT to help assist in making the decision to ensure the UX was at the forefront of whatever decision was made.
A third-party tool was carefully selected based on its ability to meet our specific needs, and I was tasked with ensuring that the platform remains user-centric, effectively addressing their pain points within the constraints of the chosen platform, while also leveraging its existing features to enhance user experience. In addition, I also took the lead in designing the user interface to enhance accessibility and engagement.
Validating the designs
Usability testing sessions were conducted with the primary users to validate whether the designs would solve their problems. I wrote a script including a scenario asking the user to submit their innovation idea. During the session, I observed how they interacted with the prototype and went through the process of submitting an innovation idea. The usability session revealed that it was easy for the user to find where they can submit an innovation idea as well as browse other users innovation ideas to open the door for collaboration opportunities.
Developing the designs
I created my high-fidelity mockups in Figma and with my experience as a developer was also in charge of bringing the mockups to life with the CMS within the system. I worked with the QA team to perform a UX review of the front-end across all platforms and popular screen sizes that to ensure it was aligned with the designs before it went live.
Outcome
Since the implementation of the Digital Marketplace, we have seen a significant increase in the number of innovation ideas that have turned into solutions that employees can leverage to enhance their workflows and improve data accuracy. Over 9,000 users are utilizing the platform to collaborate and over 3,000 submissions have been made. Since the launch of the platform, eNPS scores have risen and employees have noted that they feel like they can openly share ideas and opportunities and get credit for their contributions. Additionally, I have received positive feedback from users about the simple easy to use interface.
Over 9,000 active users
Over 3,000 innovation ideas
Increased employee engagment
Increased eNPS scores