An International Financial Services Company Case Study

An International Financial Services Company

This corporation and its family of experienced insurance and investment companies is one of the fastest growing, most dynamic consumer financial services companies in the world. Its family of companies has over $50 billion in assets and consistently strong financial ratings.

The Company operates in 20 countries and has over 6,000 employees primarily in the US (5,000).

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Client:	An International Financial Services Company
Technology:	Redhat Linux JSP WebLogic Apache Lucene
Industry:	Financial Services
Service:	Web Design & Usability

The Challenge

Our client established a brand to help solidify their position in the marketplace and increase awareness among existing and potential customers. Another goal was to gain market share by gaining the confidence of non-exclusive agents selling their product. As our client is a family of established companies, each company’s Web presence had their own brand identity and lacked consistency in regards to design, navigation, content, functionality, and usability.

The Solution

In order to provide our client with a scalable long-term solution to benefit each business unit, Ironworks defined an end-to-end project strategy that consisted of the following components:

Web Strategy – A comprehensive engagement to define the best method of bringing the brand to life on the Web, while continuing to meet the needs of the business and end-user. To define the Web Strategy, Ironworks conducted one-one-one interviews, performed user research, and conducted a thorough competitive analysis.
Implementation Roadmap – Supporting Initiatives from the Web Strategy engagement were analyzed and mapped in a logical sequence to give the company a long-term plan. Initiatives were categorized and prioritized based on their impacts to resources, people, process, and technology.
Site Redesign – Leveraging the newly documented Web Strategy, Ironworks defined the information architecture, creative design, content and natural Search Engine Optimization efforts that would achieve, brand, business, and the end-user goals and objectives. The site was developed using .JSP and was successfully launched in Spring 2005.
Usability Testing – Understanding the end-user was the primary concern of the project team. Usability Testing was conducted twice to ensure the proposed site would be intuitive and useful to the end-user. The navigation, labeling, and, site hierarchy were tested using interactive wireframes, while the second round of sessions tested the production Web site. Changes were made and scheduled based on feedback received from both tests.

The Results

A more in-depth understanding of how end-users interact with financial insurance products on the Web
A long term strategy and plan received buy-in from all levels within a previously fragmented Web project team
A usable Web presence that is scalable and consistent across all lines of business

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