orion innovation

senior xd director & strategist //

metamorphosis

vision

Our vision was to make Orion Innovation a full-fledged design-led organization. Nothing less.

goals

As this was a very large undertaking with many different aspects, angles, and avenues, there was no shortage of goals to achieve. We had to compartmentalize to keep things manageable.

Our high-level goals were to:

1. Establish XD's seat at the table for all major organizational conversations and contributions.
   
2. Create a culture of creative and innovative groupthink by emphasizing and utilizing XD problem-solving throughout all levels of the organization.
3. Establish an XD framework supported by clearly defined logistics alongside company-wide buy-in and support.
4. Create and foster a growth-oriented, working partnership with sales.

challenges

so much to do. where to start

As with any organizational change, there was no shortage of challenges. Known and unknown. Planning and roadmapping; setting realistic and clearly defined goals were critical. Start small, keep things simple, and keep things small. Below are a few of the knowns.

1. Knowing where to begin, choosing your starting place, and sticking to it. 
2. Getting real and true buy-in and support from the C-Suite, stakeholders, and all of sales.
3. All the logistics involved in the effort as well as all the logistics required to implement and see continued success.
4. Garnering full participation (with enthusiasm) from the sales team.
5. Ensuring we had the necessary resources available. Including XD lead availability.
6. Time. Once word got out, excitement started building and colleagues were requesting to see and get more.

successes

reasons to celebrate

With so many goals to achieve and challenges to overcome, this means we certainly had several occasions to cheer. Enthusiasm was much higher than expected. We were given any and all resources requested and coleagues were lining up to participate.

approach & process

transform

Translating experience into implementation: we used the very knowledge, processes, and methods we employ for our clients to help us in our efforts. And developed critical refinements along the way.

We had to discover and set the differentiators between Orion and its competitors and translate that to sales and marketing material.

As we looked to standardize it was truly a collaborative effort with input and suggestions being received and leveraged from the decades of combined experience from all our colleagues, to help galvanize our standards and best practices.

Essentially, we were using the entire process and experience to educate and guide us on the very thing we were attempting to achieve. 

results

when design wins, everybody wins

the good:
Our efforts were a resounding success. Our work was enthusiastically accepted. Below you can see some info on the tangible fruits of our labor. During planning and discovery, I came up with the idea of the Orion XD Sales Hub.

The vision of the Orion XD Sales Hub was:

• Define XD within Orion's industry verticals, helping them demonstrate to potential clients why XD is essential to their organization
  
• Provide tools and resources to demonstrate how Orion XD's best-in-class methods and processes solve complex, multi-organizational challenges
  
• Effectively provide the Orion sales team with educational content and knowledge-based support helping them to better communicate Orion XD digital product design solutions to clients  

the bad:
Nothing bad comes from a true and real design-led organizational transformation.

assetmark eWealthManager 2.0

A leading fin-tech provider aimed to modernize its decade-old advisor SaaS platform.

my role

As XD & Strategy Lead, I was part of an ambitious project reenvisioning and redesigning the flagship product offering for AssetMark.

new thinking. new value

vision

To build a compelling, data-driven Advisor/Investor digital wealth management experience that is reliable, scalable, and fast. 

goals

The client wanted a full refresh of the user experience as well as the ability to streamline the implementation of future iterations by utilizing a global design system. They also wanted to employ AI/ML to enable greater automation for the day-to-day tasks of their financial advisor customers..

Our high-level goals were to:

1. Modernize and unify the user interface, experience, and information architecture
   
2. Create a standard and flexible design system
3. Develop a modular framework to efficiently scale new features and integrations
4. Surface contextual content
   
5. Support meaningful personalization
   
6. Integrate data visualization across systems
   
7. Support mobile and tablet platforms
8. Provide 360° view of the client and firm information
   
9. Facilitate personalized experiences for both advisors and investors

challenges

gotta be good and fast

The existing advisor platform faced significant inefficiencies and disconnected segments. Additionally, the experience fell short of industry standards, affecting customer performance, retention, and acquisition. In short. It was old and crappy.

Moreover, the client was unhappy with the lack of progress being made. We needed results fast. The project also lacked vision and a clear tactical strategy.. The client team was in a state of churn which, in turn, stifled the design team's ability to get buy-in and move forward.

kickoff

learn, plan, go

Once we had an agreed-upon vision and strategy. we began conducting in-depth analysis and engaging stakeholders for buy-in, ensuring alignment with the company's goals. We crafted a strategic roadmap with clear and established OKRs and KPIs, detailing specific milestones and deliverables.

At this time, I worked with the PM to create a customized agile workflow in Jira that was tailored and more conducive to the new strategy, scope, and timeline.

approach & process

reframe & transform

Upon joining the project I formulated a comprehensive strategy to:

Power Up the Team: Cultivate a culture of innovative groupthink and agility, fostering creativity and empowering individuals to take ownership of their tasks. Promote a mindset shift towards rapid iteration and continuous improvement.

Optimize the Process: Identify bottlenecks and redundancies within the project life cycle. Introduce optimized workflows, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, and accelerate the decision-making process.

Get Tactical: Implement agile methodologies and introduce rapid workshopping methods to streamline workflows and approvals from the C-Suite—Foster cross-departmental collaboration to ensure cohesive execution and alignment with defined objectives.

The XD team worked with AssetMark through a three-day creative design sprint determining the primary focus of efforts would be placed on the eWM Dashboard and portfolio Construction segments of the experience.

We first developed an “I, I, I” or "ego" statement for the user. I am and I want. I need. I must have.

• I am an Advisor and AssetMark client and want to take full advantage of all the benefits afforded as a high-performing advisor.
  
• I need a more engaging and informative experience to help me unlock and utilize all the available tools and materials to help me grow my business and increase my assets under management.
  
• To do so, I must have a motivating and educational experience providing guidance enabling me to elevate my benefits status. 
  

We then established our working, cross-functional teams set our foundational goals and guardrails in stone, and began implementing our rapid prototyping processes.

results

the final outcome

the good:
The final result of the team's effort was the successful delivery of a wholly reimagined and redesigned MVP product showcasing the four primary segments of the platform. Testing of each segment and the platform updates writ large indicated a 100% satisfaction rate over the previous version in every measurable metric.

Some of the most noteworthy improvements included an overhauled, more comprehensive dashboard for financial advisors. Drastically improved data and analytics, and streamlined advisor workflow for client management.

the bad:
We were unable to sufficiently explore AI capabilities; limiting meaningful inclusion into our design thinking. However, we were able to provide a clear roadmap of options to explore in future iterations.