I led a data-driven redesign of SoftwareOne's renewals. This ensured a streamlined and intuitive experience for SoftwareOne's customers.
Software Used: Figma, Sketch, R Studio, Zeplin, Heap
Research
Business
Stakeholder workshops
Benchmark Analysis
User
User Interviews
Persona
Ideation
UX Audit
Information Architecture
Lo- Fi & Hi - Fi designs
Test
Preview customers
Define user journey
Create report
Make adjustments
Delivery
Create documentation
QA & Feedback
My role
User Interviews
User testing
UI
UX
Design systems
Sector
Software Marketplace
Cloud Services
Data and AI Services
The objective of the project was to create a self managed renewals system based on user feedback, where 28% of users wanted a self managed renewal system and 36% of users wanted a platform to notify them on upcoming renewals, giving leadership enough reason to invest in a renewal solution for customers.
Previously, SoftwareOne's internal teams managed renewals within Pyracloud, a broader software procurement platform. This meant users lacked direct control over their subscriptions and couldn't manage renewals themselves. This project aimed to separate the renewals functionality from Pyracloud, granting users self-service capabilities.
The project kicked off with a joint discovery phase between the Project Manager and Project Owner, ensuring realistic timelines and expectations.
SoftwareOne helps businesses of all sizes achieve digital transformation. They offer a comprehensive suite of services, including advisory services, professional implementation, and managed services. These services cover key areas such as IT portfolio management, digital workplace solutions, cloud migration and optimization, application development, and leveraging AI.
To validate design decisions, I leverage historical user data. This includes at least five years of feedback from preview customers stored within the dataset. Specifically, I analyse what users have said about the Renewals process.
Three recurring themes emerged: timely notifications about renewals on the platform, receiving quotes on time, and the ability for users to self-manage renewals. Based on this feedback, I recommended implementing platform notifications for upcoming renewals and empowering users with self-service functionalities including license quantity adjustments, repurchases, and subscription deletions.
To get further insights, I spoke to 5+ preview customers asking a series of questions to further validate my assumptions such as:
Their current experience renewing their subscriptions
The challenges they encounter (pain points)
Their suggestions for improvement
Their perspectives on proposed concepts, including their necessity and potential value
This combined approach ensures data-driven design decisions informed by both historical user feedback and current user needs.
Based off quotes from preview customers I've spoken to and from the historical user data I created a persona from feedback received, using the headings, Goals, Frustrations, Needs and Bio. I added the relevant Information into each section, this gave me a broader understanding of who I'm designing for and serves as a guide or point of reference as I progress to the Ideation phase of the project.
After gaining a comprehensive understanding of user goals and preferences through research (what they want and don't want), I create a user journey map. This map visually depicts the ideal step-by-step process users should take to complete the renewal process. The journey map is then reviewed collaboratively with internal teams, including the Project Manager, Project Owner, and key stakeholders (leadership team). This collaborative review ensures the proposed user experience aligns with technical feasibility while still meeting user needs.
Next, I conduct a benchmark analysis, looking at companies that handle subscriptions such as Google Workplace, Atlassian and more, this analysis provided valuable insights Into industry best practices and serves as a source of inspiration during the ideation phase of the project.
With a clear understanding of user needs and technical constraints, I sketch to brainstorm a wide range of design solutions. These initial ideas are then refined through the creation of low-fidelity prototypes, allowing for quick iteration and feedback before diving into more polished, high-fidelity mockups. This iterative process ensures the final design effectively addresses user needs while remaining feasible for development.
I conduct usability testing with diverse internal teams, typically including 5-10 individuals from departments like sales and project management who are unfamiliar with the project. They complete a set of tasks designed to simulate real-world user journeys, leading them towards a specific goal. By observing their interactions and gathering feedback, I can validate whether my design is discoverable, usable, and accessible to a broader audience.
Before being Implemented a review of the project scope revealed the need for adjustments due to development team capacity and time constraints. Stakeholder priority was to accelerate the release of Version 1 (V1). To accommodate this goal within the available resources, the scope of the renewal process was streamlined. Consequently, features such as the Renewal Details Page (RDP), envisioned as the central location for reviewing subscriptions and renewing, was replaced by all actions taking place in the list view.
I revamped the renewals list page. This streamlined interface now offers all the key renewal functions in one place, including the ability to renew subscriptions, cancel them entirely, and manage automatic renewals.
Upon design validation, I utilize Zeplin to facilitate a smooth handover process. Within Zeplin, I tag the relevant Project Owner and Engineers, enabling them to review the designs at their convenience. This allows them to provide comments and questions directly on the design assets.
To ensure a smooth development process, the engineering team leads a pre-sprint review. During this session, they present the designs to me and other relevant stakeholders. This provides a platform for open discussion and feedback regarding potential implementation challenges. By incorporating this feedback, the engineering team can refine their approach before finalizing the design assets for development.
Overall I created a self serving renewal solution that allows users to stay up to date on upcoming renewals and being able to make Informed decisions on their subscriptions. My experience at SoftwareOne spans across diverse departments, including the Software Marketplace, Cloud Solutions, and the Onboarding experience. This broad exposure has fostered a user-centric design approach, informed by data-driven insights. which resulted in a 5.6% increase in Sales, 30k active subscriptions and 17k active users.