Transforming customer relationship management
Overview
Anglian Water needed a modernised internal customer relationship management (CRM) system to monitor customer payments, streamline workflows, and improve data accuracy.
As the lead UX designer, I guided the design, and prototyping process to create a more intuitive and scalable solution for their internal teams.
Key Facts
- Project duration: 1 month
- Team size: 3 members
- My role: Lead UX Engineer
- Primary focus: Migrating a legacy CRM to a new design system
Challenges
- Complex legacy system
- Technical feasibility
- Time pressure
Approach
- User-centred design
- Agile development
- Continuous user testing
Problem
The legacy CRM system was inefficient, leading to slow task completion, data entry errors, and frustration among users.
The interface was outdated, lacked consistency, and required excessive navigation, increasing cognitive load. Agents struggled to complete routine processes quickly, affecting productivity.
User pain points
- Slow task completion
- The interface was outdated and inconsistent, increasing cognitive load
- Hard to complete routine processes quickly, affecting productivity
- Difficult to track customer interactions
Business challenges
- Data input errors cause downstream issues
- High training costs
- Data silos
Opportunities
- Redesign core workflows
- Implement a unified design system
- Enhance data visualisation
- Improve cross-team collaboration
Persona
Meet Sarah, a customer service agent at Anglian Water. She handles 40+ customer inquiries daily using their legacy CRM system. She needs to quickly access and update customer information while maintaining high service quality standards.
Customer Contact
Sarah receives a customer call about their billing inquiry and needs to access their account.
Information Lookup
Navigates through multiple screens to find the customer's account details and payment history.
Process Request
Updates account information or processes payment arrangements while dealing with system lag.
Resolution
Completes the transaction and documents the interaction, often needing to use multiple systems to finish.
"Let me try to find your account..."
"The system is running slow today."
"I'll need to open another application for this."
"Thanks for your patience with our system."
Process
We used Figma as our primary design tool, and MS Teams for remote user interviews. Our user-centred design process was as follows:
User research
- Conducted interviews and observations with CRM agents to understand pain points and inefficiencies.
Wireframing & prototyping
- Developed low-fidelity wireframes and iterated based on feedback before moving to high-fidelity designs.
User testing
- Conducted usability testing with agents to refine interactions, ensuring accessibility and ease of use.
Present
- Presented the design to client leadership and developers for feedback.
Handoff
- Worked closely with developers to enhance the design based on technical feasibility, eventually handing the design over.
Solution
We designed a high-fidelity prototype that restructured workflows, improved information hierarchy, and enhanced usability.
We collaborated with developers from Experian who were responsible for the build phase, to assess for technical feasibility of the designs.
Key features include:
- Streamlined navigation with fewer clicks to complete common tasks
- Improved data visualisation for better decision-making
- Consistent UI components following Experian's design system
- Responsive design for use across different devices
Results
Won leadership approval and facilitated a seamless developer handover, ensuring a smooth transition from prototype to implementation.
By leveraging Experian's design system, we ensured scalability and consistency across the system. The new interface minimised cognitive load and reduced errors, improving task efficiency.
You delivered on the brief, and my team and I are really impressed with the prototypes, along with your considerations for the build now and in the future.
Conclusion
The redesigned CRM system addressed critical usability issues, improved data handling, and enhanced the user experience for internal teams.
By focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and intuitive navigation, we created a system that better supported Anglian Water's operational needs.
Co-design is key
Collaborative design involving end-users throughout the process leads to more effective solutions. Working with developers early in the process ensures technical feasibility.
Design systems prove their return on investment
Leveraging existing design systems accelerates development and ensures consistency. In this case, using Experian's design system helped us focus more on addressing user pain points and goals, without having to worry about design inconsistencies.
Figma was excellent for collaboration
Figma's real-time collaboration, automatic design history, and robust version control streamlined team alignment throughout the project. Its intuitive commenting feature facilitated clear, contextual feedback. This helped us get the job done.