During the hackathon hosted by Scotiabank and BrainStation, I collaborated with a team of UX Designers to create a digital solution that facilitates better communication between Scotiabank Wealth Managers and clients. This case study showcases the digital product our team created under the 24-hour time constraint and my contributions as a Product Designer.
Our team decided to meet virtually right after the project kick off session since time was of the essence. Our first priority was to get to know the team members and figure out each other's strengths within the design process in order to smoothly delegate tasks. I was mainly in charge of the Product Design and stakeholder's presentation for this challenge.
Our team used the Double Diamond design model to organize our creative process for this design challenge. This was a non-linear process and we went back and forth between these stages in order to fully understand what the problem was and how we could come up with a user-centred solution.
In this hackathon, our team had 24 hours to define the scope of the problem space, research, ideate and prototype before having to present the solution to the judges' panel.
Our solution: We decided to break the project down into smaller deliverables and set deadlines for each deliverable so all the team members can stay engaged and accountable.
Due to the time constraint, we were not able to find suitable user interview participants that fit the criteria of Scotiabank Wealth Management's clients.
Our solution: We decided to create a proto-persona based on secondary research to give the team a starting point from which to begin evaluating the products and to create some early design hypotheses.
None of the team members have used the Scotiabank Wealth Management app, thus we were unfamiliar with the app's interface.
Our solution: We allocated 30 minutes for the team members to get used to the app's interface and used the Scotiabank's styleguide to design our digital solution
Canadians reported using online banking in 2021
Canadians intend to keep the digital banking habits they developed during the pandemic.
Canadians are planning to increase their use of online banking, more than any other channel
investors use digital platforms to complete investment activities
Conversational banking has been a key strategy for fintech companies, especially to improve the onboarding experience. Conversational banking is about serving customers through natural conversations. It streamlines the customer journey, reducing the number of actions needed to complete a goal.
While automated services may never fully replace the advisor client relationship, using a robo-advisor or automated investing offers customers a tailored approach to their personal goals in real time while significantly reducing fees. Using AI and machine learning to automate straightforward, repetitive processes and transactions also frees up time for employees to engage in more value-creating activities. Leveraging intelligence and analytics-driven insight gained from automated client interactions can also lead to better decision-making across an organization.
Our team did a competitive analysis to see what competing banks are doing to improve communications between their financial advisors and clients.
Scotiabank's Direct Competitors:
TD Bank uses AI to personalize mobile banking app and provide insights to customers that help them make financial decisions.
TD Bank mobile app uses AI to roll out low balance prediction tool & upcoming transaction list.
CIBC launched a conversational AI-based Virtual Assistant (VA) powered by IBM Watson on IBM Cloud. The VA can send money, pay bills, lock and unlock credit cards, transfer money between accounts, answer everyday questions and transfer a client to a CIBC financial expert, if needed.
Due to the 24- hour time constraint of the hackathon, our team created a Proto-Persona based on secondary research to give the team an idea of the end user and start ideating.
For our solution sketches we also wanted to not only include the collaborative aspect, but also add in conversational banking where the chat box goes beyond AI, and includes attachments, carousels, and such, to enable transactions to be completed without leaving the app.
Since the value proposition of our solution lies in the collaborative aspect between the Scotiabank Wealth Managers and clients, we drew inspiration from the latest softwares like Figma and Miro to better understand how these types of interactions work.
Overall, this design challenge has been a wonderful learning opportunity for me as a UX Designer. The project allowed me to thrive in a collaborative environment, communicate design decisions with different stakeholders, and prioritize high-impact design iterations to improve usability.
As for what’s next, I intend to conduct user interviews & A/B testing with the high fidelity prototype to improve on the aesthetic design and usability.
