Designing for complexity demands a seamless balance between functionality and intuition.

Overview

As a Senior UX Designer at Optus, I was responsible for overhauling the user experience for business customers managing telecom accounts. Business customers span a broad spectrum, from small companies with just a few devices to large enterprises operating complex networks. Each customer type has unique needs and goals. Optus’s existing platform needed to meet these diverse needs while providing a smooth, intuitive experience, particularly for tasks such as billing, eCommerce, troubleshooting, and account management.

The challenge was to replace a disjointed experience with a cohesive, user-friendly interface that streamlined navigation and supported self-service, reducing the need for direct customer support. With this redesign, I aimed to enhance the functionality of core features while creating an experience that empowered customers to manage their accounts confidently. I employed various UX techniques and delivered a suite of UX assets that contributed to making this transformation a reality.

Throughout the project, I produced key deliverables including decision trees, UI flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and documentation, which all played an essential role in driving the redesign forward. My involvement also encompassed free-hand sketching, whiteboard facilitation, and customer research to ensure the designs were informed by direct user feedback. Techniques such as usability testing and behavioral analytics allowed us to make data-driven design decisions, refining each iteration to better align with user needs. This case study provides an in-depth look into the design processes, methodologies, and outcomes achieved through this project.

Identifying the Problem

The project began by identifying and understanding the major pain points business customers faced when using the Optus platform. After reviewing feedback from multiple channels, it was clear that the existing platform was failing in several key areas:

1. Billing Complexity: Business customers regularly need quick, clear access to billing information to assess charges and manage payments. However, the current platform presented bills with either too much or too little detail, resulting in confusion. Users often struggled to locate specific charges and lacked context for how these charges were calculated, leading to high volumes of support calls. Many customers expressed a desire for more customization, such as sorting charges by department or service.

2. eCommerce and Service Management Challenges: Many business customers routinely add or modify services, such as upgrading internet speeds, adding lines, or modifying plans. The eCommerce functionality was initially designed with individual users in mind, offering limited customization for businesses. Business customers found it difficult to navigate this interface when trying to make frequent changes. Moreover, the layout lacked a clear structure, often leading users to abandon tasks midway through.

3. Troubleshooting Difficulties: Business customers frequently encountered internet connectivity issues or device-related troubleshooting needs. However, the troubleshooting interface was buried deep within the platform, making it difficult to access. Even when users found it, the steps were often not intuitive, and the troubleshooting paths rarely led to successful resolutions, forcing customers to contact support teams as a last resort.

4. Account Management Limitations: Business accounts typically have multiple connections or user profiles under a single account. The existing interface lacked the flexibility to accommodate these complexities, making it challenging for larger companies to manage multiple connections seamlessly. Business customers needed a consolidated view of all their lines and connections with the option to easily navigate between them. The rigid structure was especially problematic for enterprises, which needed visibility and control over each individual component of their telecom setup.

These issues became the foundation of our redesign efforts, forming clear objectives for the platform overhaul.

Project Goals

To address these challenges effectively, we defined a set of targeted goals:

1. Simplify Billing Processes: Streamline billing information and create an intuitive layout that enables users to find billing details quickly. Integrate features such as a billing breakdown, customization options, and filters to allow customers to sort charges by department, service type, or account number.

2. Enhance eCommerce and Service Management: Redesign the eCommerce flow to be more user-friendly and tailored for frequent use by business customers. The goal was to make it easier for users to add or remove services, modify existing plans, and view available upgrades. This new approach would offer a more intuitive path for modifying services, reducing friction and increasing satisfaction.

3. Optimize Troubleshooting Pathways: Improve troubleshooting options by surfacing the tools more prominently and providing step-by-step guidance. The troubleshooting process would be broken down into clear, actionable steps with self-help solutions wherever possible, reducing the need for support calls.

4. Streamline Account Management: Create an account management interface that would allow business customers to view and control multiple connections and user profiles within a single dashboard. This goal required creating an interface that was flexible enough to accommodate businesses of all sizes and organizational structures, while providing granular control over each aspect of the account.

These objectives provided clear benchmarks for success and informed every stage of the design process, ensuring alignment between user needs and business goals.

Approach

I applied a comprehensive, data-driven approach to ensure that the redesign was grounded in real customer insights and validated through multiple iterations. My approach encompassed customer research, UI flows, decision trees, task flows, and ongoing testing.

1. Customer Research and Behavioral Analytics
Customer research was essential to understanding pain points and validating design choices. This phase involved:

- User Interviews: I conducted interviews with a range of business customers across different industries, asking detailed questions about their needs, challenges, and desired outcomes. For instance, many interviewees expressed frustration with billing statements that were difficult to navigate or interpret, highlighting the need for an interface that provided a clear, itemized breakdown of charges.

- Behavioral Analytics: Analytics tools provided quantitative insights into customer behavior on the existing platform, such as common drop-off points, time spent on specific pages, and popular features. For example, data revealed that customers spent an unusually long time on billing pages, suggesting confusion or a lack of clarity.

- Support Call Analysis: Support data was another valuable resource, as it indicated frequent issues and common queries. By identifying the root causes of these inquiries, I could prioritize features that would alleviate pain points and reduce support demand.
These insights were crucial in creating a user-centered design and addressing the most pressing customer issues directly.

2. Decision Trees and UI Flows
After gathering research data, I developed decision trees and UI flows for each feature, creating logical, streamlined paths for users to accomplish tasks.

- Billing Decision Trees: I mapped out various paths for billing-related tasks, including viewing recent charges, accessing billing history, and adjusting payment methods. Each flow allowed users to navigate directly to their desired outcome with minimal steps, which was tested with users to confirm intuitiveness and clarity.

- eCommerce UI Flows: For the eCommerce section, I designed flows that guided users through the process of adding or modifying services with clear, contextual instructions. This included differentiating between standard plans and customized plans, allowing users to find the right options more easily.

- Troubleshooting Flows: The troubleshooting flow featured a simple, guided approach that led users through common connectivity issues, such as checking their router status or identifying network problems. These paths provided relevant information, such as alerts about known outages, before escalating to support.

These decision trees and flows ensured that each feature was accessible, efficient, and aligned with user expectations.

Design Process and Deliverables

The design process involved creating multiple UX assets to iterate and validate the platform's new structure.

Wireframes, Interactive Prototypes, and Documentation
Each feature underwent a structured design process, including wireframes, interactive prototypes, and extensive documentation.

- Wireframes: Wireframes served as the initial visual guide, outlining the layout and user flow for each section. The billing interface wireframes, for example, provided an itemized breakdown view, while the eCommerce wireframes highlighted a streamlined pathway for adding services.

- Interactive Prototypes: High-fidelity prototypes were developed to allow users and stakeholders to interact with the interface in real-time. This approach was instrumental in identifying usability issues early on and refining the user experience through multiple iterations.

- Documentation: Documentation was meticulously prepared to detail the purpose, function, and interaction flow for each feature, ensuring that development teams could follow the design intent.

Free-Hand Sketching and Whiteboard Facilitation
Sketching and whiteboard facilitation were invaluable during brainstorming sessions with the team. These quick, collaborative methods allowed us to explore ideas, identify potential improvements, and iterate rapidly based on group feedback. This practice also helped generate consensus across departments, especially during early-stage ideation.

Information Architecture and Task Flow Mapping
A clear information architecture was essential for creating a logical and accessible platform. I restructured the platform’s layout and navigation to ensure information was easy to locate and understand.

- Billing Structure: The billing section was restructured into a single, centralized location, displaying recent charges, usage, and upcoming payments. Filters and sorting options allowed users to drill down into specific areas, providing a more tailored view.

- Task Flow Mapping: Task flows were optimized to reduce the number of steps required to complete common actions. For instance, adding a new service now took three steps rather than five, minimizing time and effort.

Usability Testing and Iteration

Usability testing was a continuous process, as each iteration was tested with users to identify and resolve pain points. Key areas tested included:

- Billing Interpretation: Testing confirmed that the new billing interface was much clearer, with 80% of users able to quickly locate charges and interpret their bills accurately without needing additional assistance.

- Service Modification: The eCommerce experience proved significantly smoother, as 90% of users were able to add or change services without errors, compared to 60% on the previous platform.

This iterative testing process ensured that the final design was highly user-centric and efficient.

Conclusion and Reflection

The redesigned Optus platform achieved our goals of streamlining account management for business customers. By implementing a user-centered design approach, conducting thorough research, and focusing on key pain points, we were able to create a more intuitive and effective interface. The redesigned features, including billing, eCommerce, troubleshooting, and account management, now offer business customers a seamless experience tailored to their needs. The success of this project not only improved Optus’s customer satisfaction but also reinforced the importance of a well-rounded UX approach. By leveraging decision trees, UI flows, wireframes, prototypes, and thorough testing, I was able to design a platform that effectively met both user and business objectives. This project serves as a testament to the impact of thoughtful UX design in the telecom sector and provides valuable insights applicable to my ongoing career in UX design, particularly in roles that focus on complex, high-stakes digital platforms.