Re-platforming a bespoke business platform through best practices in UX/UI design and coding
TOA provides accounting outsourcing services to clients in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada.
TOA embarked with onepoint on a comprehensive digital transformation of their client-facing tool, an online platform integrated to their service delivery. The aim was to enhance the reliability, performance, and usability of this platform, ensuring it effectively served their clients’ needs. Ben Fisher, TOA’s Chief Information Officer, spearheaded this initiative.
We were after an organisation to help us with staff augmentation, some specific skill sets, and to be able to work on our customer-facing platforms as they were really in their infancy. That’s why we engaged with onepoint.
The primary objective of the project was to gain a deeper understanding of customer usability, and significantly enhance the platform’s functionality and user experience. Furthermore, it was essential to streamline & optimise the platform for performance.
onepoint thus brought together its Platform & Digital and Experience & Innovation expertise to address these challenges. Our team conducted a thorough analysis of the platform from both a UX/UI and architectural perspective, identifying key areas for improvement. By leveraging our comprehensive understanding of digital transformation, onepoint successfully enhanced TOA’s platform, delivering a more reliable, performant, and user-friendly experience for their clients.
Understanding the current state of digital platforms
To develop the optimal execution strategy and digital implementation plan, our Platform & Digital experts conducted a comprehensive audit through three key lenses: user experience, the state of the codebase, and the state of deployment. This involved a thorough review of the frontend website, an in-depth examination of the current codebase, and an understanding of existing processes. Throughout the audit process, the onepoint team created detailed technical documentation to clearly map out the current state of the digital solution.
The audit revealed that the project’s codebase required cleanup, restructuring, and framework upgrades to optimise platform efficiency and enhance current QA processes. Based on these findings, onepoint consultants recommended prioritising code optimisation, and improving internal processes, before focusing on new feature development. The aim of addressing the underlying issues was to create a solid foundation for future enhancements, ultimately improving the overall customer experience.
Transforming the customer-facing platform
Over a period of 12 months, the onepoint team introduced new procedures and best practices in the development and deployment processes.
To address the code challenges, onepoint developers enhanced the code quality and overall project architecture. This included migrating to the most suitable frameworks and technologies, reducing the codebase, and adding integration testing. Additionally, the cloud infrastructure and Azure resource utilisation were optimised. These efforts resulted in a significant improvement in the platform’s overall performance and the user experience of the web portals, which is crucial to TOA’s customer-centric approach. Overall, the team successfully reconciled business requirements with technical capabilities, achieving the most optimal outcomes.
Enhancing platform usability with UX/UI expertise
While working on the architecture, onepoint also incorporated expertise in UX/UI design, as customer usage of the website and digital platform was low. It was essential to understand the underlying reasons for this low usability and to develop a future product strategy for TOA’s client-facing tool. Clear goals were established, including making the platform more discoverable, enhancing the UI, and improving processes to build client trust.
Following internal stakeholder interviews to clarify business expectations, the onepoint Design team conducted client interviews coupled with usability testing. This comprehensive approach aimed to understand how clients integrate TOA’s customer-facing platform into their daily operations, identify their roles, and assess their interactions with TOA. The focus was on determining the information clients need and uncovering the challenges they face.
Usability testing involved presenting participants with scenarios to observe firsthand how they navigate and use the platform. This dual approach allowed the onepoint team to identify both effective processes and areas requiring adaptation. It became evident that the primary challenges stemmed from unclear business processes, leading clients to perceive the platform as confusing or unnecessary. Consequently, clients were hesitant to use the platform due to uncertainty about its purpose and the processes it supported.
Lean workshops were conducted with TOA’s stakeholders to align on findings, present current user flows with challenges clients were facing. The team then introduced the recommended to-be flows and aligned on the project next steps.
I think that UI work has set us up for what this year was about: rebuilding a lot of the foundations across our entire business. The design team also left us with a large range of principles, frameworks and tools that we’ve continued to run with.
TOA x onepoint – a successful partnership
After working with onepoint for more than a year, Ben’s experience highlighted “onepoint is a genuine partner. The team work together and with you, and really understand your needs. They are true to their value proposition, and helped us defining our new vision.” Onepoint’s expertise in platform and digital, and design has enabled TOA to improve customer experience by providing an optimised UI, new processes, and am improved platform backend.
The key benefits for TOA were:
o A detailed understanding of their current digital platform (backend and frontend)
o Improved UI with a UI kit
o Tools and frameworks provided for continuous improvement
o Updated and improved code
o Identified opportunities for internal processes improvement