Reshaped How a Multi-national Legacy Bank Considers Customer Interaction

The Brief

Requirements Gathering

Product Validation

Launch Strategy

Wrap Up

Overview

Usability Testing

Qualitative Interviews

Stakeholder Interviews

Personas

Change Management

Value Proposition

Conclusion

1

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4

5

#1 The Brief

Background

A leading European specialist bank for real estate financing and public investment finance, approached Backbase to digitalise their processes. This would include a document exchange platform, checklists and a workflow dashboard. I led the research and provided strategic support to ensure the project met their requirements.

Challenges

The project only accounted for business requirements, but did not take into account user requirements.
This was a completely new type of project for Backbase. The research that we would be doing would be going into unchartered territory.
Client was very 'old school'. They considered using excel to be the extent of their tech-savvy abilities.
They were unfamiliar with the field of UX and UX research.
Technical industry (corporate real-estate finance) that I had not worked in before.

#2 Requirements Gathering

Before contacting Backbase, the client had a list of over thirty potential features coming from business requirements. I was tasked to act as the voice of the user. I wanted to understand why this project was happening now, who it would affect, how it would affect them and what problems they are currently facing.

"We're defining the solution before understanding the problem."

Within a few weeks, we had put a research proposal and was given the green light. We scheduled stakeholder interviews to outline the success and their motivations for the project. Based on this, I was able to craft an interview guide to conduct the interviews with their clients.

Major discoveries

🎯 Based on these interviews we were able to significantly narrow the scope and add solid direction to the portal.

💡 The client intended for the portal to help staff do their day-to-day activities. I identified that the portal was not necessarily to improve efficiencies, but to create transparency between PPB and their clients.

👁 In the client's day to day life, they would sort through mountains of documents and contacts, and have these transferred through various channels (email, fax. drop box, etc). They wanted us to standardise these processes.

Successes

Gaining credibility - The client referred to the research and asked us questions about their clients.

Creating a buzz - PBB's Chief Innovation Officer used the results to create the KPIs for the project.

Setting the direction - Backbase's project team embraced and knew exactly the value the tool delivered

"This is the exact reason why we hired you guys!"

#3 Product Validation

As development progressed, I continued my role and devised a validation plan. We tested seven employees, and 13 of their clients to test the prototype. I created fourteen scenarios to test with each participant, with the UX designer creating over thirty screens.

Testing was able to uncover over eighty areas for improvement which were added to the backlog. The testing also proved crucial in convincing the steering committee that the product was heading in the right direction - PBB's clients showing a great level of enthusiasm and interest.

#4 Launch Strategy

Based on the interviews, usability testing and general discussions, it became apparent that there could be some resistance to change. We categorised Account Managers, into three types of mindsets. We then proceeded to create strategies to ensure adoption.

🚩🚩🚩 Senior Management 🚩🚩🚩

"The account managers will have to use the portal, because we will tell them to use it"

Why this is NOT true

🏦 The account managers make millions of euros in revenue for the bank. If they resist change, money will talk.

🙅‍♂️ 'The Principle of Reactance' occurs when an authority restricts a persons to conform to accept a view or attitude. The reaction is to reject the view, take a contrary standpoint and rebel against change. If we force them to adopt the portal, they are more likely to reject it.

🙋‍♂️'Principles of Commitment and Consistency' states that people yearn to be consistent with themselves. Converting people step by step by making them state the benefits of the portal generates ambassadors for the project. If people publicly state that they like the portal, they will naturally have an affinity towards it.

Putting it into practice

With this in mind, we collaborating with their marketing team to create a change management strategy.

Identifying champions and giving them material to create a positive buzz
Spotting detractors and dispelling any fears they may have
Generating training videos and bringing in early feedback from the team so they feel like their voices are heard

#5 Wrap Up

It was highly rewarding working on a project from inception to launch. We were able to consult with the client and provide a plan and vision to meet each challenge they faced. We proper guidance, we were able to ensure that the project was successful and the client remained satisfied at each step of the journey. The project was credited with an 80% improved employee-client communication and 1% increase in revenue. Overall, the client gave me a nine out of ten.

"John did a great job in conducting the interviews, always positive and helpful when the client got stuck. With clients facing technical user-related difficulties, John found the right words to assist and at the same time make them feel comfortable and confident.

I really like the fresh approach and the interactive way of the interview format and it was appreciated by both, us and our clients."