Streamlining Adviser Tools to Improve Efficiency and Productivity
Financial Advisers (FAs) across Singlife, Affinity, and PIAS relied on multiple standalone apps to manage client information, track policies, and perform administrative tasks. Fragmented workflows created inefficiencies, increased errors, and limited time for building client relationships.
The Adviser Customer Experience (ACE) project aimed to consolidate these tools into a single, omni-channel platform, providing a one-stop solution for client management. The objective was to reduce administrative overhead, improve productivity, and enable FAs to focus on high-value client interactions.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
User Research
Feature Consolidation
Productivity Enhancement
1 Senior UX designer, 3 Business Owners, 1 Business Analyst, 1 Front End Developer, 1 QA tester
May 2020 - May 2021
(Includes UAT/Production testing)
Aviva / Singlife with Aviva
Screen recording of experience
Problem
Disconnected workflows causing frustration and inefficiency
Before ACE, advisers juggled multiple systems/apps, often with separate logins, to complete even simple client tasks. These disconnected workflows caused:
Excessive time spent on administrative work
Frequent errors from duplicate data entry
Lost opportunities for proactive engagement due to missed reminders
Reliance on paper-heavy processes that slowed client servicing
This led to frustration across adviser roles, with repeated calls for a single robust tool that could consolidate client information and simplify everyday tasks.
Different apps advisers use:
Agency Management System (AMS)
Distribution information to manage production, commission, etc.
Sales Relationship Management (SRM)
Manage and engage prospects and sales leads.
Electronic Financial Needs Analysis (eFNA)
Fact-find with leads for recommendation of suitable products.
Public Canvassing
Door knocking, street prospecting and roadshow events.
Pre-Sales
Pre-financial needs analysis tool to use as ice breaker, showcase gaps and products.
Research
Understanding adviser journeys and feature priorities
Goals
Understand FAs’ day-to-day workflows, pain points, and priorities
Identify which CRM tools/features would have the highest impact
Provide context through competitor benchmarking to inform design decisions
Methods
User interviews
6 FAs across roles and distribution channels; sessions led by the Senior UX Designer, with note-taking and synthesis contributed. Each session lasted ~1 hour via Webex.
Competitor analysis
Reviewed industry CRMs to highlight best practices and features relevant to ACE.
Heuristics evaluation
Reviewed in-house apps to identify usability gaps and inconsistencies.
Key findings
1. Pain points by stage
Prospecting
Excessive administrative work: repeated data entry, Excel-based tracking
Lack of product comparison tool
Manual financial analysis
“The process is still so primitive.” - RT
Closing
Signing on 30–40 page physical documents
Lack of flexibility for on-the-spot quotation adjustment
Inconsistencies in process across companies
“It can be quite back and forth, because we don’t have a portal on the spot.” – GL
Client Servicing
No centralised client database
Missing reminders for client milestones
Lack of ready-to-use campaign templates
"Having a database would really help." – GL
“If there was a system that reminded me of birthdays or renewals, I wouldn’t miss any client touch points.” – EN
2. User-prioritised features
Rank
User need/Pain point
Prioritised feature
Evidence from research
MVP outcome (decision)
1
Excessive administrative work
Centralised client database
“Having a data based would really help” – GL
Searchable, unified client view; multi-level filters
2
Missed client milstones
Notifications & reminders
“Sometimes I miss out on birthday lunch with clients” – EN
Birthday & policy renewal alerts integrated in workflow
3
Inefficient manual communication
Mass email function
“Spend a lot more time compared to Financial Planner” – EN / MT
Create/edit email templates for automated campaigns
4
Desire for personalised engagement
eCard templates
“It would be good to send ready-to-use greetings” – EN
Ready-to-send eCards for birthdays and festive occasions
5
Appointment & schedule management
Calendar |
Ranked lower in prioritisation exercise; participants noted need for a single view of appointments |
Deferred to future iteration; informs integrated scheduling roadmap |
6
Professional presentation
e-Biz card |
Ranked lower in prioritisation exercise; participants suggested electronic business card could save time |
Deferred to future iteration; included in future roadmap planning |
Competitor & heuristics analysis
Understand industry best practices, identify gaps, and inform feature design
Methods
Competitor analysis
Compared popular CRM tools to evaluate features, usability, and workflows.
Screenshot of feature evalution
Heuristics evaluation
Examined existing in-house apps to identify inconsistencies and friction, documented in an Excel sheet for structured comparison.
Screenshot of feature evalution
Key insights
Auto-recommendation of products could reduce repetitive tasks.
Integrated video conferencing improves workflow efficiency.
Customisable tables and responsive layouts enhance usability.
Messaging features (email/WhatsApp) support efficient client communication.
Device logging and access control improve security.
Impact on MVP
Influenced design of high-priority features like centralised client database, notifications, and mass email templates.
Ensured ACE MVP leveraged best practices while addressing actual user pain points.
Solution
Consolidated platform addressing highest-priority pain points
ACE platform was designed to consolidate fragmented tools into a coherent system, addressing the highest-priority pain points identified during research. The approach focused on reducing administrative burden, improving productivity, and enabling advisers to spend more time on meaningful client interactions.
Guiding design approach
Three principles shaped the solution:
User centered workflows
Tasks were prioritised around advisers' daily processes, ensuring that time-consuming administrative work was simplified or automated.
Feature consolidation and consistency
Multiple legacy apps were integrated into a single interface while maintaining familiar patterns to reduce learning friction.
Technical feasibility and scalability
MVP screens were designed using existing UI components and validated with developers to ensure smooth implementation.
Implementation highlights
Notifications
Birthday and policy renewal alerts
Global search
Multi-parameter search across client details, policies, and investments
Consolidated client view
Filters by client, policy, investment, and address
Template creation
For mass email campaigns
Policy details page
Unified view of client policies and investments.
My Role
As the UX Designer on this initiative, responsibilities focused on translating user research into actionable insights and designing high-fidelity screens for the MVP. Working alongside a Senior UX Designer, tasks included:
Conducting one-on-one user interviews and transcribing sessions for analysis
Synthesising insights from research, heuristics evaluation, and competitor analysis to inform MVP design
Defining information architecture and designing high-fidelity screens for core features
Collaborating with developers to validate technical feasibility and providing walkthroughs for handoff of custom-built components (e.g., global search, multi-selection filters)
Showcase
Key features addressing highest-priority adviser pain points
Challenges
The project surfaced several challenges that shaped both scope and execution:
Tight timeline
The project required a focused MVP delivery within weeks. To stay on track, feature scope was sharply prioritised using adviser-ranked needs, ensuring only the highest-value functionality made it into the first release.
Working within existing frameworks
The ACE platform was built on Aviva’s UI component library. While this accelerated design, it also imposed constraints. Where components fell short (e.g. search and filter interactions), new solutions were constructed by combining existing atomic elements.
Data and workflow complexity
Advisers’ workflows spanned prospecting, closing, and servicing, each with distinct pain points. Consolidating these into a coherent experience required careful structuring of the Information Architecture and dashboard so that high-frequency tasks surfaced first.
Learnings
User research drives design decisions
Evidence-based prioritisation ensures high-impact features are implemented first.
Consolidation reduces cognitive load
Combining multiple apps simplifies workflows for advisers.
Balancing legacy familiarity with new functionality
Supports adoption of new features.
Constraints sharpen focus
Guided prioritisation of feasible, high-value solutions.
Next steps
To evaluate the effectiveness of ACE once adopted
Metric
Intended purpose
How to measure success
Adoption rate
Understand if FAs are engaging with ACE
Tracks active users and login frequency
Average task completion time (client lookup)
Gauge efficiency of workflows
Compare time spent on client lookup before vs after ACE implementation
Mass email usage and open rate
Assess effectiveness of communication features
Determine whether automated messaging is being used successfully
eCard engagement
Monitor adoption of client engagement tools
Measures usage and interactions for personalised outreach
FA satisfaction (CSAT)
Capture subjective experience
Collect feedback on usability and confidence in workflows |