CASE STUDY: Taming Complex Workflows
The success of a Fortune 500's new insurance claims app depended on staff and client's ability to collaborate efficiently and share documents securely. I led the research and design effort to identify the right solution.
Challenge
Every day, the company processed hundreds of claims using email, phones and handwritten notes, leading to bottlenecks, communication breakdowns and delays.
- Claims involved multiple parties sharing dozens of confidential documents — sent in unsecure emails.
- Staff changes can occur mid-stream, risking service continuity and information being lost in emails or voicemails.
- Difficulties keeping everyone informed and aligned resulted in confusion, causing client frustration.
How can we bring better efficiency, security and visibility to all parties during the claims process?
Formative Research
In order to better understand the pain-points and goals of all stakeholders, I advocated that we speak with all stakeholders including clients, adjusters, managers and support staff. This was the first holistic look at the entire process the company ever conducted, documenting every touchpoint and participant.
- Interviewed 20+ clients and staff.
- Created personas for all stakeholders.
- Built a current-state business blueprint including all participants and systems.
Design Hypothesis & Testing
After research analysis, the team decided that an online claims tracker was required which broke the process down into phases with corresponding tasks. The status of a claim should be understood at a glance, allowing anything preventing progress to be identified and resolved. The ability to securely upload documents was also necessary. Email or texts updates would keep all parties aligned throughout the process.
Tasks during this phase included:
- Sketched and wireframed interfaces
- Designed low-fidelity interactive prototypes
- Conducted user testing
- Iterated on designs based on feedback
Results
- Version 1 of the low-fidelity prototype yielded a 70% approval rating.
- After incorporating user feedback, version 2 improved to 95% approval.
- 100% of test participants felt the tracker could improve collaboration, reduce bottlenecks, and keep documents organized.
Confident we were on the right track, the team continued to refine the designs, aligned them to the design system, and delivered final assets to the developers.
