Merrill Advisor
A digital tool built hand-in-hand with Merrill’s financial advisors to optimize work flow, organization, report and proposal building, and research for their clients.
The Problem
Merrill came to us due to many of their advisors frustrated with their current daily work processes in financial reporting, proposal creation, client management, and other administrative tasks.
Understanding the landscape
It was important to be acquainted with the world of administrative tools for this particular type of advisor. Through our research we collected 3rd party tools, competing products, and a variety of pros and cons to established work patterns for advisors as a benchmark for us to improve upon.
Their method of work often constituted a number of homemade spreadsheets, coupled with a variety of 3rd party web tools sourced by other financial competitors.
Understanding our user
Through Merrill we had direct access to many advisors eager to discuss their pain points ranging from young new advisors to veterans that have worked in finance their whole lives
“We do have a platform we are supposed to use but it’s so dated I just do it my own way”
“Things just take too long and it takes time away from being with my clients themselves”
Insights Gathered
It is critical to bring the functions of a variety of disparate sources they currently use to complete their work tasks into the same cohesive platform
Due to the diversity of their tasks a unified dashboard is critical for advisors to monitor past actions, organize documents, and initiate new work flows
Many tasks from investment proposals to quarterly report drafting require a consistent and clear cut work flow fit for new and veteran advisors to learn
Design Solution
By considering the tasks of our users we created an all-in one control center from which advisors can initiate reports and proposals, document, organize, schedule, and conduct research, all at a fraction of the time of their former process.
Ideation & Co-Creation
Through design research on the various features required for this platform and working hand-in-hand with advisors, we created a variety of iterations of the tool’s structure, navigation and workflows to fit the advisor’s unique needs.
Throughout our roadmap we established a rhythm of consistent communication and feedback through direct sessions at all stages from wire framing to prototyping.
Much of our work focused on understanding the mental framework of their work process and how that might reflect in the information architecture and hierarchy of actions.
The Workflow
With one of the main pain points being the necessity of using 3rd party tools to complete tasks, we made sure given our data and tech capabilities that all of their workflows can be accomplished within our own platform and executed in an even more efficient and clear way.
Data & Dev
By working with our data specialists and engineers in the early stages of design we could pinpoint all our opportunities to optimize their work at an early stage to test for throughout the process.
Iteration Testing
In testing these workflows through functional prototypes we were able to discover deeper friction experienced by the users including the tedious task of establishing report exhibits contributing to the majority of time users spend in the common process of creating a report.
By understanding the consistency of exhibit data our users handle we introduced a net new template feature for both custom and global exhibit formats, turning a hunt-and-check memorization task into a simple dropdown for all report generation to come.
Design System
When working with large entities such as Merrill it is important for the design to be cohesive stylistically with the brand and adhere to their brand compliance regulations. However, when creating new tools we warranted an expansion and revision of the current system to accommodate new functions, patterns, and ADA requirements.
Documentation & Development
Upon completion of the designs, extensive work with the engineering team on collaborative files documenting the design’s behavior and rule system was executed in order for a smooth hand off and continued consultation.
Design Impact
Our new product bringing together all of the tools needed for advisors to create reports and proposals, and to organize and document their client relations, has reduced advisors’ time and effort in such tasks to a fraction of what they were as acknowledged by user feedback and metric research through Merrill.
With less time on administrative, work advisors can prioritize interpersonal work with their clients.
A more streamlined workflow eliminates much of the stress and confusion from previous practices.
Transitional features and education were also an additional need to address new advisors.