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In early 2019, a Class 1 Canadian Railway company approached ConvergentIS expressing the need to simplify its customer portal. They had a big challenge in front of them as they needed to update their technology platform and improve their customer’s experience. The kicker: the company managed over ~19,000 users on one technology platform and each customer had its own set of notifications and shipping requirements. The current system had a confusing, outdated layout. As a result, customers had difficulty finding what they were looking for and often missed items that required action. This resulted in problems for shipping managers and unnecessary delays. Our client had to find a simple solution to support its large customer base and one that could scale.
Our design team was up for the challenge. Led by Alissa Sylvestre, Director of User Experience and Business Design, the team was eager to step in and partner with the client to build a workable solution.
A Custom Solution
We hit the ground running and kicked off the design phase in 2019. The design team worked with client representatives and their current customers to identify pain points within the current system. Although the customer experienced many pain points with their original system, there were some elements of their system that they enjoyed. Needless to say, it would be a challenge to re-invent the portal and maintain some of the key features that customers were used to. Ultimately, the major design was created that was able to house all 19,000 customers and make it easy enough for each customer to quickly locate their data, applications, and receive key notifications.
“We really wanted to create a solution for our client’s customers that would provide them with actions or alerts that were easily visible and a layout that worked for their entire customer base. We also wanted to give them some flexibility so that they could customize their homepage for their own unique needs.” - Alissa Sylvestre.
The Design
Our design and development team met the challenge and delivered a workable solution. We provided our client with a framework that would be scalable over time and simplified their customer’s user experience. The design centred around a universal Fiori homepage, themed for the client, using a customizable component such that all the different business units would be able to seamlessly locate their shipping information and be alerted when something required their urgent attention. In addition to the Fiori homepage, three categories of notifications were incorporated to ensure that customers had the right information at their fingertips. This would help them to avoid extra charges that could occur if they missed taking action.
A Successful Roll Out
Our team executed a successful deployment in December 2019 and because of the system stability, the client was able to roll it out to 40 large customers. Even better, the customers that received the new system were able to navigate and access their information with little to no help from the client or our support team. The design team made this easier for users by implementing the design on the Fiori platform. Customers could customize their page with a “Super Tile” to put the information that was most relevant to them on their homepage. By developing a deep understanding of the client’s business process, the team was able to help the client design a solution specifically for their business needs.
Since the initial launch, we have rolled out to another 800 customers in February 2020 with another 2,100 customers scheduled in May 2020.
Looking Forward
The client continues the roll-out in a phased approach with very positive adoption from the client’s customers. This project was adopted quickly and efficiently. Customers have found it to be both “modern” and “very simple to use” and they appreciate being able to customize their own homepage.
The story does not stop there. The platform itself is available for other organizations with similar customer management workflow situations that require quicker customer action.
To learn more about this design process and opportunities, connect with us!