Supporting the call center agents who care for our customers.
The Information Architecture that changed how our agents service customers and how the company perceives internal experiences.
Card Product & Operations wanted to improve its agent servicing applications through modernizing the tech stack, and creating user centric experiences to improve operational metrics and end customer experience.
Discovering the Pain Points
An initial pilot allowed us to test new experience patterns and technical implementation on a single highly complex workflow. Some major pain points were exposed:
A brand new standalone app was needed, modifying the current app wasn’t going to work.
The improvement of individual processes wasn’t enough. Agents need context about their customer, the problem, and potential risks.
All of the context was spread across multiple systems owned by different AEs. It needed to be thoughtfully and deliberately surfaced in one place at the right time.
Driving Strategy with Human Centered Design
The new standalone app needed an organizational structure, and the problem statement needed to shift from “How might we rebuild the old application” to “How might we create one agent experience”.
Relying on our previous research and experience with the pilot I worked to create the Information Architecture of a single application and experience for our agents. I partnered with designers from across the enterprise to develop the first draft aligning it to our current customer facing platform and then deliberately filter in all agent specific use cases from across all agent applications in Card as well as Bank & Auto Loans.
I then shared the proposed IA with my product and tech leaders who at first were hesitant to take it on because of business complexity, but couldn’t deny to value of the solution. At that point the decision was made to focus on Card use cases then expand to Bank and Auto Loans down the line.
Defeating Conway’s Law
To deliver a single experience across multiple organizations and leaders we needed a tech architecture that could be federated, empowering teams to own their code and deliver independently.
Partnering with our tech leads, I utilized the IA to lead conversations discussing experience needs against technical needs. We work through trade-offs together eventually landing on a container architecture that would mirror the IA, making it the foundation of all experiences and feature delivery. It was hung on walls and carried from room to room to share our story and successfully get external organizations and teams onboard.
To ensure code and experience quality we recognized the need for a design system and governance model. I led a cross-functional team to develop a robust design system based on Capital One’s brand standards and a governance model that was light enough to not impede development but extensive enough to support a builder community and ensure experience quality. The IA, design system, and governance model continue to be the foundation of the application today.
Delivering on a Vision
Core Servicing Experience rolled out to 100% of Card call center agents and support functions
Additional application convergence continues through 2022
50+ Product teams contributing to the experience over 10 Card and Small Business organizations with a 50+ NPS score
$XX million run rate operational savings through reduced handle time, transfers, training, and one touch servicing
Platform model expanding to Marketing and Engineering support applications
Unfortunately due to confidentiality agreements I’m unable to share specific details or artifacts but am more than happy to discuss those details in person/virtually.
