INDUSTRY:
IT SERVICES AND IT CONSULTING
COMPANY:
NORDWARE (PROXYS GROUP)
YEAR:
2021
ROLE:
UX/UI DESIGNER
Nordware
about.
Nordware is a company that developed an integration hub to connect e-commerce platforms and marketplaces with the SAP B1 ERP, addressing the real needs of online sales operations. Bahn, an order integrator, was created to help SAP B1 users connect with platforms like Magento, VTEX, Cloudshop, and Integrated Store.
challenge.
SAP B1 is a secure and robust ERP, but its implementation can be complex, often requiring consultants. This complexity increases in e-commerce, where the system lacks native integrations with essential digital business tools. Nordware Bahn was designed to simplify this integration process, offering secure and easy implementation.
My role as UX/UI Designer in this project was to make the product more consistent in its use, improving the user's understanding during the performance of their actions and making its implementation clearer and more organized.
understand the context.
Interviews with the team
When I started the project, the product was already in full operation and with some customers already using the service. As a way to get a better understanding of the scenario and try to better understand what paths we would follow, I conducted some exploratory interviews with some people on the team remotely and using Zoom.
At first, I looked for people who deal with the customer on a daily basis and who have a closer knowledge of the pain of users when starting to use the product. Thus, I conducted two interviews with people from the implementation team, to understand how it is carried out and what are the difficulties they have, as well as the problems that customers face when they start using the tool.In addition, I also spoke with two developers to understand the technological aspects and their vision regarding the product and the problems they face with development.
Interviews with customers
After getting some information from the team, it's time to talk to some customers to get an understanding of what they think of the product, its main benefits and problems faced. An interview script was applied with some questions addressing the personal and digital profile, as well as attitudes towards the segment and motivations. Three people who use the product from different companies and areas were interviewed.
indexing.
To organize the research findings, an affinity diagram was created, facilitating the vision of what we would have to solve. The summary of the main problems identified with the surveys was categorized as follows:
Screens, features and automations
There are no screens to perform all the tool settings when the customer contracts the service.
Functions without clarity what they are for.
It is not possible to test/validate existing configurations.
Many business rules have not yet been raised.
Various customizations of fields in SAP are necessary.
Most of the tool configurations depend on the product/IT team.
There is no user control as well as segregation.
Information
Most customers have difficulty implementing the product, not knowing how to proceed.
When customers have questions, they contact the Nordware team, directly impacting the service team.
What takes more time is the requirements gathering part to implement the product.
Different levels of user experience in relation to ERP SAP Business One and e-commerce processes.
More technical issues need the IT team or sometimes a third-party consultancy is involved.
Several areas within the client use the system (commercial, marketing, logistics, IT).
Service
The developer team interacts a lot with customers.
Third-party consultancy is sometimes involved in the process.
Delay to resolve tickets.
Sometimes the service team is not technically prepared to answer the calls.
product review.
During the process, an analysis of the product was also carried out, where it was possible to identify a series of problems.
The system does not have the same visual identity standard as other products and according to the company's branding.
The information does not present a good visual hierarchy, making it difficult for the user to understand.
The interface was created using dark mode, and there is no adequate contrast of texts and elements, making the information illegible in many cases.
Confused navigation flows and no clear understanding of operations.
Inconsistency in the pattern of components, flows, actions, and other interactions.
There is the use of different languages, in some cases in Portuguese, and in others, in English. In addition, many technical terms are used, for example terms that are used in a database.
Application areas such as My Account and Help are available in other tools and do not show the brand or product identification.
definition.
After understanding the context, some initial steps were defined to follow based on the entire identified scenario. Thus, the macro objectives were as follows:
Applying quick wins on the current product, based on issues identified in the reviews focusing on more serious issues.
Construction of a new product, focusing on improvements in use and experience based on user pain, in addition to following the visual pattern of branding and other applications.
Start the development of a style guide.
Personas
Based on interviews conducted with clients we created two personas that were used to develop the design process.
In a general context, personas seek to improve the operation of e-commerce and use technology to help in this regard.
With a high volume and speed of operation, they are looking for an integrator that is safe and that solves the problems of integration of other systems or manual work. In this way, they will be able to free up time to carry out other actions that they consider important.
ideation.
Benchmarking
Conducting a study of competing and similar products, it was possible to observe some patterns during some moments of product use, such as how the user's onboarding works, the configuration, the use and how the support works during these steps.
In all cases, registration and onboarding work in a very simple way, where it is possible to quickly access the product for testing. After this step, users can basically understand how the tool works. To carry out the configurations, the user is usually accompanied by help via chat or a help centre containing documentation that explains the step-by-step instructions for carrying out the configuration.
Sitemap
To obtain an overview of the product, a sitemap was created where it was possible to have a greater notion of the size, complexity and to organize the user navigation hierarchy.
Moodboard
Another important process carried out was to obtain references for different products from the segment and from other markets. With this, it was possible to identify several possibilities for improvement that could be applied to the product.
redesign.
The new product proposal was developed thinking about the main pain points identified during the process.
The first step was to consider the existing features and make improvements in their usability, to later think of new features that are priorities at the first moment.
In addition, there was a significant change in the organization of features and menu, thinking of a more logical navigation for the user, with the intention of facilitating the understanding and location of actions.
Another important point was to consider the company's visual identity, as well as other existing products.
