Optimizing Freezone Portal for SME Growth in the UAE

Transforming B2B portal experience for SMEs via stakeholder engagement and user-centric research.

2023

B2B - stakeholder workshops - focus group discussions - user personas

Background:

A leading economic zone in the UAE approached us with a distinct objective: a comprehensive UX revamp focusing primarily on the post-login experience, the pivotal dashboard that encapsulates the heart of user interactions. The online portal serves as a comprehensive platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Through this portal, businesses not only manage their registered companies and handle staff visa services but also navigate residency-related procedures. Beyond just foundational tasks, it enables streamlined tracking of requests, assistance in obtaining various official documents, and offers a range of personnel-related services.

Approach:

The project was tackled through several phases:

Discovery

Stakeholder workshops were conducted with different client-side teams to gather their input and to ensure they could voice their perspectives and align with the revamp objectives.

Research

We focused on the "agents", a user segment previously unexplored. Using focus group discussions, we collected data and insights to create user personas specific to this group.

Design

This phase involved UX design sprints where we iteratively designed and refined the user interface for the dashboard.

My Role:

As the lead researcher on the team, I led the discovery and research activities.

  • Discovery:

    I planned and facilitated stakeholder workshops. These sessions aimed at ensuring various teams (beyond product) could voice their perspectives and align with the revamp objectives. The workshops were engaging by encouraging participants to write a Love Letter ❤️ Break-up Letter 💔 to the current product.

  • Research:

    I set the overall research plan and methodology for the project, identifying its objectives and activities. I set the moderation guide for the focus group discussions. The research strategy was a twofold:

Primary research:

Focus Group Discussions

My role included moderating and synthesizing focus group discussions. Through focus group discussions, invaluable insights were garnered, laying the groundwork for the formation of distinct user personas. These personas, in turn, played a pivotal role in guiding the subsequent design phases.

Secondary research:

Data Analysis

To guide the primary research activities, I analyzed datasets provided by the client on their client base. This helped learn about the target user segments of SMEs in terms of: business activity, size and other information about the business. These details guided participant recruitment for a balanced representation.

  • User personas: The goal was to move from role-based personas into personas that demonstrate the differences in needs, contexts, and behaviors that are found across users that share the same role. I created 4 distinct user personas that is backed by evidence from the research activities. The personas described users motivations, objectives and goals.

Outcomes:

The research and discovery activities guided and influenced the design phase by:

  • Prioritize features and content of the portal dashboard to help users take the necessary actions related to their business at a timely manner.

  • Optimize the information architecture of the portal to match users expectations and beyond.

  • Facilitate the user journeys on the portal in a way that facilitates user business processes.