Leading design research and testing to modernise core adviser tools across the Iress retail trading suite.
Key Meta Info (small text):
- Role: Lead Product Designer
- Duration: 2024–2025
- Company: Iress
- Team: Product Design, Research, Engineering, Client Success
- Tools: Figma, Miro, Confluence, Zoom
Designing for Consistency, Confidence, and Efficiency
Over a 12-month period, I led design research and process facilitation across key product initiatives at Iress.
My focus was on maintaining design consistency while modernising tools that retail advisers depend on daily — particularly the CRM Scan feature within IOSc.
The work combined ethnographic research, design testing, and migration planning to ensure new experiences were intuitive, reliable, and aligned with user expectations.
Modernising without Breaking Trust
Retail advisers rely on IOSc Classic for trading, portfolio management, and compliance. Migration to the new IOS+ and EMS platforms risked disrupting familiar workflows and reducing performance.
Our challenge was to understand where critical functionality lived, identify what truly mattered to advisers, and ensure that new interfaces supported — not hindered — their success.
We needed to:
- Map functional gaps between IOSc and IOS+
- Understand high-value workflows and dependencies
- Test new CRM Scan and Portfolio Scan experiences
- Build confidence in the migration roadmap
What We Learned
“I love the flexibility of IOSc Portfolio, but smoother integration with AIM and reliable alerts would save me so much time.”
- Retail Adviser
1️⃣ Core Tools & Workflows
Order Pad and Portfolio Tools remain central but inconsistent in data reliability.
Opportunity: streamline advice workflows and pre-populated data.
2️⃣ CRM Scan as a Keystone
Used daily for stock lookups, compliance, and client comms. Missing parity caused major friction.
Opportunity: rebuild for parity and visibility.
3️⃣ Integration & Trust
CRM systems like Fusion and Salesforce are the “source of truth.” Limited data flow causes manual duplication.
Opportunity: prioritise seamless integration.
4️⃣ Usability Testing
Average difficulty scores: 2–3/10. Filters were essential but not obvious; users wanted defaults and clearer UI cues.
Opportunity: improve discoverability and persistence.
Refining the Experience
Insights from both studies directly informed a design evolution plan.
We refined the CRM Scan interface to support a global security search, improved filter discoverability, and introduced saved default states.
Recommendations also shaped the broader migration approach — a hybrid of IOS+ and EMS widgets — allowing users to test modern tools early while maintaining familiar workflows.
👉 “Before and After” mockups of CRM Scan UI.
👉 Side caption showing: “Saved filters”, “Improved messaging”, “Default email client option”.
Results & Impact
- Rebuild plan for CRM Scan/Portfolio Scan adopted for 2025 roadmap
- Hybrid migration strategy approved by leadership
- Design documentation integrated into migration GTM plan
- Improved qualitative user sentiment (“It feels fast again”)
- Established repeatable design research framework for future product uplifts
👉 “Outcome tiles” graphic (icons + keywords): Consistency / Confidence / Efficiency / Adoption
Designing for Change, Grounded in Reality
This project reinforced the value of evidence-based design in managing product transformation.
By facilitating structured research and usability testing, I helped align multiple teams around user needs rather than assumptions.
The migration process is still underway, but the foundation is stronger — grounded in empathy, clarity, and shared understanding.
“By grounding migration planning in real adviser workflows, we ensured user trust and adoption were built into the strategy — not left for post-launch support to solve.”
👉 Subtle portrait or candid workspace shot (you in context of facilitation or workshop).