Customer-facing Platform Modernization for Leading Provider of Employee Benefits Management
Solutions
Review Summary
- Employee Benefits Management
- Platform modernization
- Employee Benefits Enrollment Platform
- 51-200 employees
- USA
Our cross-collaborative team of strategists, designers, and developers helped an established benefits management solutions provider research, plan, and design a modernized version of its existing employee benefits enrollment platform, resulting in what one broker called “one of the most thoughtfully created and appealing platforms” he had ever seen.
Early demos of our prototype resulted in three times more new business in the pipeline than the client did in all of 2019.
“Our platform was externally facing, so end users were interacting with something that was dated and difficult to use. My main goal was to improve it … The product Praxent delivered with that prototype exceeded everything I could have hoped for.”
Summary
The Problem
Outdated platform + highly regulated processes = frustrating experience for thousands of end users, who relied on it to enroll in their benefits
How We Helped
STRATEGY
Conducted user experience design research and developed user personas based on actual feedback from brokers, clients, and third-party evaluators
DESIGN
Clickable prototyping
DEVELOP
The Outcomes
The Problem
The insurance industry is highly regulated, with a lot of compliance to keep in mind. Our client’s legacy employee benefits platform was dated; enormous; and packed with layers of data, disclaimers, waivers, and questions—the answers to which impacted end users’ eligibility. All of this made for a constrained and quite clunky process, which was their biggest obstacle to creating a smooth interaction with users.
They were seeking an improved look and feel for their user experience. The platform was externally facing, so end users were interacting with something that was dated and difficult to use. Over the years, they had bolted on additional functionality as they needed it, and it ended up as a conglomerate of things that didn’t flow well, even though all of these things were necessary. They felt as though they didn’t have enough knowledge of best practices and heuristics for user experience to be able to apply them to their existing process. They knew what their users wanted—they just didn’t know how to deliver it.
They were overwhelmed and uncertain of how much they would actually be able to impact the overall outcome, and they were concerned that, because of the constraints, their ability to improve the overall process would be limited. That was their biggest concern—not just giving the platform a facelift but actually improving the functionality of it.
“For me, initially, it was a build or buy sort of decision like, should I hire someone internally to do this and have them build it? Or should I buy an engagement and get a whole team? In that first meeting, seeing all of the different roles that were part of the team at Praxent, I knew there was no way that I could hire one person and in nine months have a completed project. There’s no way.”
How we Helped
User Experience Research
UX/UI Design + Prototyping
Knowledge Transfer
“They are believers in over communicating, even on sensitive things. We have a weekly project meeting where I know exactly where I stand on the budget and completion of the project. They do a great job of making sure that there is never a question of where you are in the process.”
Results/ROI
What We Delivered
Improved functionality
Modern, intuitive user experience
Seamless integration with the complex back-end system and processes
Effortless transfer to internal build team thanks to well-documented code that was built to be maintained
While waiting for internal team to complete build process, the client used our prototype to attract new business
“Praxent overcame challenges with not having access to the back end of our proprietary, single-source system, and they created a prototype platform. We took that prototype on the road and used it as our new sales demo. Our redesigned platform alleviated an obstacle to sales and helped us to focus on the positives, the platform being one of them.
In four months’ time, we had a 300% increase in our pipeline.
One of the brokers said it was one of the most thoughtfully created and appealing platforms they had ever seen.”
Client Testimonial
“The insurance industry is highly regulated, with a lot of compliance to keep in mind. Our platform had disclaimers and waivers and questions—the answers to which impacted whether employees would be eligible for their benefits. All of that made for a really clunky process, which was our biggest obstacle to creating a smooth interaction with users.
I was looking for an improved look and feel for our user experience. Our platform was externally facing, so end users were interacting with something that was dated and difficult to use. My main goal was to improve it—at minimum, bring it up to par, ideally, improve it beyond table stakes for the industry.
The problem was, we had bolted on additional functionality as we needed it. It ended up being a collection of things that didn’t flow well, even though all of those things were still needed.
I needed help. I didn’t have enough knowledge of best practices and heuristics for user experience to be able to apply them to our process. I think that was my biggest concern—not just giving the platform a facelift but actually improving the functionality of it.
The team at Praxent told me the top five things we should be doing to improve user experience. They listed major, high-impact things but also low-hanging fruit that could be fixed without pulling everything out by the roots and starting over again. I trusted they understood and were experts in UI/UX. I also trusted their project management expertise and the plan they had for how to move forward. Choosing them was a no brainer.
Praxent overcame challenges with not having access to the back end of our proprietary system, and they created a prototype. We took that prototype on the road and used it as our new sales demo. Our redesigned platform alleviated an obstacle to sales and helped us to focus on the positives, the platform being one of them.”
“In only four months’ time, we achieved a 300% increase in sales pipeline”
“One of the brokers said it was one of the most thoughtfully created and appealing platforms they had ever seen.
If you have a great product, you have a great platform, and you have a great user experience—when you have all of these aligned—you’re no longer apologizing for anything. You’re leading the way.
“So many times, we just get pigeonholed into ‘It’s the way we’ve always done it.’ It doesn’t have to be like that. I think being challenged made for a much better experience in the end. The product Praxent delivered with that prototype exceeded everything I could have hoped for.”
– Head of Client Experience
Client Review
Background
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the senior vice president of strategy for a leading employee benefits provider. We are a digital technology platform providing employee benefits for employer groups. We aggregate employee benefits for employers to offer to their employees and for employees to self-serve the administration and election of their benefits.
My role is to map out the overall business strategy for the next one to three years. I make sure that we are headed in the right direction from an industry, profitability, and sustainability standpoint.
Opportunity / Challenge
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We engaged Praxent to help us create a modern and attractive UI and UX for our employee self-serve client portals.
Solution
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our first phase was research, and Praxent was tremendously helpful in pulling together competitive reviews, industry reviews, and information that pertains to the best practices for UI/UX.
They did research to determine what we currently have in place and what we want our future stage to look like. We created a customer roadmap, and now we’re working on the wireframes. We’re in the process of doing internal and external interviews to get their feedback, and then we’ll have a second review.
Once we complete that, we will go from our low fidelity wireframes into a more high-fidelity wireframe, and we will add more graphics and colors. Once that is done, they will actually provide us with the design elements that we need for our internal developers to create the frontend of our backend system.
What is the team composition?
We chose them because of the team they brought to the table. It would be impossible to hire someone that has the breadth of knowledge that this team has.
We have people who are designers, project managers, interviewing specialists, research specialists, as well as best practice specialists.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
When I was doing my research, we looked at Clutch and the top 15 UX and UI agencies in 2018. I interviewed about six vendors based on what I found on Clutch, and Praxent was head and shoulders above the others that I interviewed.
I signed an NDA with each of the six vendors, went through a discovery call, and provided them with a demo link to our site. We asked them to go through that site with no instructions or assistance from us so they would have the same experience as our end-users.
We asked them to provide us with a presentation giving the highs and lows of what they see on the site. Praxent was by far the most thorough and most prepared.
How much have you invested in them?
We have invested around just shy of $250,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began working with them in August of 2019, and the work is still ongoing. We started with a 12-week research phase, and when that was up, then we started the design phase, which is projected to go through to the end of March or April. Following that, our third phase will be an ongoing upkeep phase.
Results & Feedback
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
As far as quantitative metrics, we don’t know yet because we haven’t released our new UI/UX. I would be surprised if, in the first 12 months, we didn’t have at least a two to one ROI.
In fact, it will likely be better than that because our UX was really bland before this. Now, it is legitimately night and day. When the UI/UX is released, it will absolutely be a completely new experience that will be worlds better.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
I cannot say enough good things about their project management, reporting, and communication. We’ve had a great amount of input into the process, which I have really appreciated.
As we go through the project, they make sure I’m fully aware of everything they are working on, everything that is expected of me, and all the required resource planning.
They are believers in overcommunicating, even on sensitive things. They make sure they are bringing their expertise to the table for exactly what we have hired them to do. If I decide I need to cut a corner or take a different path, they make sure that I am thinking through all the potential risks.
Outside of that, we have a weekly project meeting where I know exactly where I stand on the budget and completion of the project. They do a great job of making sure that there is never a question of where you are in the process.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their two high points for me are the synergy and preparation they bring to the project. Their synergy as a team is fantastic — truly is exponential in comparison to others. The other impressive thing would be their preparation.
They are always prepared in advance with great detail, but also a great amount of simplicity. They are very concise in what they provide you and the direction is always very clear.
Are there any areas they could improve?
It would have been helpful to have a discussion earlier in the process around systemic alignment. They work on Apple, and we work on Windows. Now that we are further along in the process, we are finding there will be a bit of a translation issue with the design elements. They are doing the work using Sketch, and we are doing it in Adobe. If we had been aware of it months ago, we might have been able to take steps to avoid that.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Listen to them when they tell you there are potential pitfalls. They have been right every time, and they have been very helpful.
Outside of that, don’t shortchange yourself. If you are really going in on a project, go all in and get what you know you need. Fully utilize the team as a resource.
Initially, we decided on less research than our initial plans. But, after talking it through, we had decided to go with the full research method. Those 12 weeks made a huge difference for us. We felt good about the preparation we brought to the project.
Ratings
5.0
Overall Score5.0
Scheduling
5.0
Quality
4.5
Cost
They provide great value and every penny was worth it. But, there was one area where we had to push a bit more to get all the information we needed.
5.0
NPS
Are you ready to dramatically improve your customers’ digital experience by modernizing, rather than rebuilding, your legacy software?
Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation today
Schedule a callJoin other insurance industry clients who are innovating within constraints to improve their users’ digital experience.
Not sure if you’re ready to start your project?
Check out our free guide, and set yourself up for success right now.
DOWNLOAD
The Four Reasons Software Modernization Fail
(and Twelve Strategies for Success)