Unifying business operations

About
Element(s) streamlines transactions to give total control of intercompany processes.
The platform provides a fully integrated ecosystem to develop digital solutions, ensure data consistency and help increase productivity among team members, partners and clients.
Responsibilities
Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Product Design, Design System, Visual Design
Tools
Figma, Sketch, InVision Studio, Ps, Ae, Au, Visual Studio, Git
Period: 2019 - 2021
Element(s) Phone Mockup
Challenge
Solve regular mismatches in accounting systems of large organisations in which 80% of their global trade takes place within their value chains.
Hypothesis
To gain total control of intercompany processes and streamline transactions, the business team discovered through research that there was a clear need for a fully integrated end-to-end system.
Solution
Element(s) features an operating system experience with no-code solutions, process automation and business insights. One space for all.
Process
Engaging users at various stages allowed me to adapt my strategies based on their feedback and ensuring design decisions based on current frustrations and needs.
1

Emphatise
  • Who are the users and their ways of working?
  • What frustrates them the most using their current tools?
  • What kind of business problem are they trying to solve?
2

Conceptualize
  • Gathered internal and external requirements
  • Documented research outcomes
  • Storyboard tasks and personas
3

Design
  • User-flows
  • Prototyping
  • Design system
  • Layout and Mockups
  • Implementation

1. Empathise

Engaged in design sprints with team members, partners, and clients to foster collaboration and gather diverse perspectives. This iterative process allowed me to empathise deeply with users and refine my approach based on collective insights.

User Interviews
Participated in nine user interviews to identify pain points, expectations, and the value the product could offer businesses. These insights shaped our design decisions and ensured alignment with user needs.
Market Analysis
I conducted a competitor analysis and heuristic evaluation with tools like SAP and Mendix, gaining insights into ERP systems and their management of business processes.
Brand Positioning
Collaborated with the CEO to align the product's mission, vision, and values, effectively defining the product's tone and identity for the team. Ensuring a cohesive understanding of the brand's purpose and enhanced communication throughout the development process.
Team Contribution
I collaborated with my team to understand technical and business validations while assessing technological capabilities. Their insights were crucial in refining our approach and ensuring that our solutions aligned with both technical feasibility and market needs.
Main aspects and discoveries
After analysing the research data, I categorised them into three key problem statements to guide my focus and inform my design decisions. This synthesis helped clarify the primary challenges I needed to address, ensuring our solutions would effectively meet user needs and enhance the overall experience.
  • Inefficient manual processes lead to repetitive tasks.
  • The lack of integration results in reliance on multiple disconnected tools.
  • Users are overwhelmed by excessive on-screen information, complicating their ability to find necessary details.

2. Conceptualise

Developed a strategy encompassing user personas, content creation, time estimation, and resource allocation.

Insights from Intercompany Accounting
Conducted a thorough study of Intercompany Accounting to understand how financial transactions between two different and more entities happen to inform business requirements and understand user behaviours.
Business Processes
Participated in collaborative sessions with team members, where we used analogies like cake recipes, metro lines, nanos, and pipelines to deepen my understanding of business processes and operations.
Sketching User-flows and Interactions
I started by reviewing documents from the business and development teams, mapping business processes using a graph database for clarity.

Once I had clearer ideas, I shared my findings through sketches and prototypes to gather feedback and validate concepts with stakeholders and my team.
Persona Overview
Barbara Weyn, 34
As a project manager,
I want to create and execute processes without the hassle of complicated technical tools
  • Collaborate with team while planning, managing and executing projects
  • Excitement to work in a automated way
  • Reduce unforseen risks
  • Have more time to create new business opportunities and enjoy life
Lucy Amber, 28
As a customer,
I want to prevent delayed payments to suppliers, losses due to fraud, and negligence
  • Report insights about progress
  • Manage orders, transactions and invoices
  • Buy goods from suppliers
Mark Williams, 40
As a supplier,
I want to invoice, receive orders and payments from customers without wasting my time with missed information
  • Direct interaction with customers
  • Exchange products and services
  • Sign contracts

3. Design

To maintain consistency across solutions, I established design principles for layouts, components, and behaviours, referred to as Spaces. This modular and flexible design system aims to support a sustainable development process for both business and engineering teams.

One system to cover all business solutions...
The concepts of "modular" and "flexible," previously established in our branding, guided my research on creating a practical and sustainable approach for developing various solutions on a single, complex foundation.
...demanded a dynamic way to build it
By outlining and comparing the intended layout structure and its components, I found inspiration in industrial design, particularly Dieter Rams’ 606 modular shelving system, which served as my guiding principle.
Voice Assistant Prototype
I identified an opportunity to develop a Voice Assistant prototype using a phone booth in the office. This setup allowed me to record various voice commands and demonstrate the functionality of retrieving invoices based on specific search criteria.
To advance with my work, I formulated essential questions to pinpoint the areas of focus.
  • Do we need our own design system?
  • Should we design for the desktop first?
  • Which solutions should we start building?
After addressing the key questions, I began outlining potential solutions and components.
  • We selected a robust front-end framework to streamline development.
  • Based on user feedback, we opted for a desktop OS approach while limiting the mobile experience.
  • We prioritised solutions to effectively run and test business processes with end-users.
Nanos and Pipelines
An example of a customisable flow that showcases the backend architecture's functionality during the initial development phases. This visual representation highlights how Nanos and Pipelines work together to streamline processes, providing a clear understanding of data movement and system interactions.
Persons App
Manage people, organisations, and devices with an intuitive layout designed around 'Collections' principles. This approach facilitated easy access for users to streamline interactions and effectively oversee their network.
Manager App
Collaborate with team members to manage lists and tasks efficiently.
The layout is structured around 'Tools' principles, offering an organised and streamlined interface that supports productive teamwork and task management.
Landing page
A public-facing page designed to showcase the app's key functionalities, highlighting its features and benefits for potential users. This page serves as an introduction to the app, providing a clear overview of what users can expect and how the app addresses their needs.
Design highlights
  • Framework limitations led me to build our own design system
  • Desktop was the best way to interact with graphs and data
  • Designed a digital modular system based on contextual content
  • Usage of independent and interconnected components
  • Facilitated a sustainable development process
  • Defined design principles to ensure consistency across solutions

Conclusion

A sophisticated B2B ecosystem. Element(s) was designed to handle business workload and interactions in real time by members with different roles, background and technical knowledge. With 12 apps available during launch, the first four organisations tested the platform to perform their daily activities and validate the integration across all departments.

12 apps launched
4 projects signed
>€1M funding raised
What did I learn?
  • New ways of thinking and dealing with technical issues.
  • How to better overcome challenges by having an ownership mindset.
  • Translating complex tools and business processes into simplified user interactions.
  • How the support from my team can heavily contribute to my work.

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