A smooth and easy way to pay bills online.

DAKCS | 2019 - Present
Senior UX Designer

Laying the groundwork for success.

01.

The first UX designer

I joined DAKCS as the first and only UX Designer with the goal of establishing UX as a core strength of the company. Over the 40-year history at DAKCS, the product line had grown to a full suite for managing Accounts Receivable. Many of these products were showing their age and growing stagnant. I knew that UX would play a major role in improving the existing products as well as in developing new solutions for new markets.

I introduced design thinking to the team.
02.

Crafting a design foundation

To build the foundation, I drastically revised the visual identity and provided new brand guidelines as well as component-based design systems for the product line. I used the style guide to craft numerous marketing assets including a new corporate site. I used the design systems and new processes at DAKCS to create a UI overlay for a legacy product as well as to launch a brand new product.

I crafted design systems & a new visual identity across the company.
03.

Increasing design maturity

From the very beginning it was vital to help the company understand the full value of UX design thinking. It's not about making products look good, but rather about leveraging the design process to identify the right solution, connect with users, improve outcomes, and drive the strategic product vision. Essentially, my goal was to help DAKCS achieve level 5 on the Design Maturity Model.

It's about leveraging the design process to identify the right solution and drive the strategic vision.
I established UX strategy and research in addition to visual design.
01.

Reshaping the company

I joined DAKCS as the first and only UX Designer with the goal of establishing UX as a core strength of the company. Over the 40-year history at DAKCS, the product line had grown to a full suite for managing Accounts Receivable. Many of these products were showing their age and growing stagnant. The team wanted to refresh the products as well as innovate and develop new solutions for new markets. I knew that UX could play a key part in that effort.

02.

Establishing the UX department

Early on it was vital to help the company understand the full value of UX design thinking. It's not about making products look good, but rather about leveraging the design process to identify the right solution, connect with users, improve outcomes, and drive the strategic product vision. Essentially, my goal was to help DAKCS achieve level 5 on the Design Maturity Model.

It's about leveraging the design process to identify the right solution and drive the strategic vision.
03.

Building a foundation for design

To build the foundation, I drastically revised the visual identity and provided new brand guidelines as well as component-based design systems for the product line. I used the style guide to craft numerous marketing assets including a new corporate site. I used the design systems and new processes at DAKCS to create a UI overlay for a legacy product as well as to launch a brand new product.

01.

Reshaping the company

I joined DAKCS as the first and only UX Designer with the goal of establishing UX as a core strength of the company. Over the 40-year history at DAKCS, the product line had grown to a full suite for managing Accounts Receivable. Many of these products were showing their age and growing stagnant. The team wanted to refresh the products as well as innovate and develop new solutions for new markets. I knew that UX could play a key part in that effort.

02.

Establishing the UX department

Early on it was vital to help the company understand the full value of UX design thinking. It's not about making products look good, but rather about leveraging the design process to identify the right solution, connect with users, improve outcomes, and drive the strategic product vision. Essentially, my goal was to help DAKCS achieve level 5 on the Design Maturity Model.

It's about leveraging the design process to identify the right solution and drive the strategic vision.
03.

Building a foundation for design

To build the foundation, I drastically revised the visual identity and provided new brand guidelines as well as component-based design systems for the product line. I used the style guide to craft numerous marketing assets including a new corporate site. I used the design systems and new processes at DAKCS to create a UI overlay for a legacy product as well as to launch a brand new product.

Mission

The challenge

DAKCS had built a product line for a very niche industry. Unfortunately, that industry was shrinking rapidly. Low margins, consolidations, legal complexities, and a rapidly changing tech landscape meant the exponential decline would only continue into the future. In spite of the bleak outlook most of the company was very hesitant to pursue any new verticals. It was entirely up to the UX & Strategy team to identify an easy product pivot that could open up new market opportunities while using as few company resources as possible.

Research

Discovery

To kickstart this process, we formed a discovery team which initially consisted of myself and a Product Manager. We weighed dozens of new product ideas using R.I.C.E. modeling. Ultimately we chose to pursue a new billing platform. We knew that most DAKCS customers were operating inefficiently with antiquated A/R processes of mailing letters and calling consumers/patients by phone. Streamlining the online payment process had been almost entirely overlooked by DAKCS in the past.

Before designing anything we conducted immense amounts of product and market research. We performed landscape analysis and interviewed 30+ customers of existing billing portals to identify points of friction for the consumers and the service providers. We also researched average payment portal metrics like sign in conversion and payment conversion to see where improvements could be made. Our research led to several important discoveries.

A way out into new markets
Building a new platform would not only increase revenue from existing customers, it could also allow DAKCS to pivot into new markets. Although countless billing portals exist, there was still opportunity to differentiate and enter new verticals.
Clear + instant demand
DAKCS customers were already aware of their labor-intensive processes. They were just waiting for DAKCS to build a better version of the old billing portal that could more effectively serve consumers and patients.
Opportunity in communication
Most team members in charge of billing hate following up on unpaid invoices. The idea of a platform that could find and follow up with consumers resonated with business owners that would otherwise write-off Bad Debt at the end of each year.
Frictionless access to bills is key
Billing teams and patients alike confirmed that the greatest point of friction was securely accessing a bill online. Reference numbers, account numbers, PINs, passwords -- these are all stumbling blocks for a consumer.

Design, Test, Learn

I implemented the popular build, measure, learn methodology to validate feature and product effectiveness early on. I personally led all of the wire-framing, designing, prototyping, and user testing required for the product's success. I used rapid iterations to test hundreds of design ideas with both consumers and the service providers. Tests were conducted using Maze as well as virtually over video calls.

By providing and managing comprehensive style guides and design systems I was able to quickly craft component-based designs aligning with the brand and with the Angular Material framework used by the Development team.
A very early set of flowchart ideas.
A preview into the company settings. This platform allows business owners to create and customize their billing portal.
A few selected screens from the long term vision for the billing portal.

Delivery / Handoff

Many designers complain about the handoff process and blame the development team for production gaps. The reality is that the designer has full control over the finished product. The best products are the result of close collaboration between Design + Development. This collaboration includes educating about the design system and layout framework. It includes bringing Development into the design process regularly to provide feedback and insight. It includes crafting consistent and pixel-perfect screens, which are the greatest resource for communicating a UI vision. It includes providing clear, detailed, and useful handoff documentation as well as being there as a support during the development phase.

At DAKCS, I've relied heavily on InVision for every step of the product development process -- especially for handoff documentation.
Results

Outcomes

In my three years at DAKCS I've gone from establishing the UX role to reshaping the visual identity and product development process to helping the company reach its first new market vertical in 40 years. It takes a village to successfully release a product, but I'm very proud of the influential role I played in its success.

20% increase in total payment volume
New customers of the billing portal saw a 12% increase in payment size, a 20% increase in total payment volume, and did so while reducing burden on FTEs.
$500,000 in new ARR within 8 months
Within three months the new billing portal had processed over $1M. By month eight, $1.65M was being processed monthly, generating $500,000 in new ARR.
First new market sales in 40 years!
For the first time in 40 years, DAKCS was selling a product to a new industry. They're finding success in veterinary, legal, accounting, home-repairs, and more.
2x increase in sign-in conversion
Many customers are seeing over 90% sign in conversion. This is almost 2x higher than what we saw with other bill-payment platforms.