Simplifying business support

Introduction

My client is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government supports people and businesses to develop and apply their skills. As part of a dynamic team, we took on a fascinating project aimed at enhancing the services of this national skills development organisation. Our primary objective was to enhance their business offerings, which were grappling with various challenges, including limited audience understanding, internal process inefficiencies, and disjointed user journeys.

Discover

• Audience and recruitment: established our key audience - Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) - and crafted and distributed screener questionnaires to recruit across a range of roles, sectors, industries, turnover, size, and locations across Scotland.

  
  

• User interviews: Conducted semi-structured interviews with eight SMEs to better understand their goals, motivations, challenges, needs, and tasks.

  
  

• Ecosystem Mapping: Conducted co-creation workshops with different internal teams to map out their processes and touch points. Held second round of workshops to validate these processes, map pain points, and co-create an ecosystem map.

Define

• Interview synthesis: Employed thematic analysis to identify themes and codify interview findings. Here's what we found:

  • Limited awareness of business support

  • Struggles with recruitment

  • Lack of confidence in support organisations

  • Difficulties in prioritising strategic endeavours such as skills management

  • Perception of support as too generic and complex to receive

  
  

• Persona Creation: Research led to the creation of four key audience personas:

  • Seeking funding

  • Struggling to adapt

  • Planning for the future

  • Actively recruiting

  
  

• Ecosystem map analysis: We identify several internal issues. Our key findings:

  • Too many offline manual processes

  • Lack of ownership over business offerings

  • Lack of awareness of different business offerings

  
  

• Future State Planning: Crafted a future-state ecosystem map and reports that outlined short and long-term plans for the client

  
  

• Employer Hub: We proposed a central solution - the Employer Hub - a new service which looked to bring all of the previous disjointed business support offerings under one umbrella. This concept was a marrying up of the business needs identified through the ecosystem mapping, and the user needs identified in the user interviews. It would serve as a one-stop destination for businesses to access all support services.

Develop

• Prototype Creation: Developed a concept where users visit the 'Employer Hub', answer a few questions, and reach a personalised dashboard to access specific business support, and book 1-1 meetings with advisors if needed.

  
  

• Concept Validation: Conducted usability tests with five users from our target audience to test if the Employer Hub was clearly understood, aligned with employers' needs, encouraged sign-ups, and offered clear next actions.

  
  

• Iterations: Made alterations to imagery, copy, and signposting based on user feedback.

Deliver

The final deliverable was a validated concept that met user needs effectively. It led to several significant impacts:

• Creating Confidence: The redesigned service helped build trust among business owners who were previously skeptical. One user noted, "Whoever I speak to will be really on it, because this website is really on it."

• Making it a Priority: By simplifying the process of booking a meeting, we facilitated business owners to prioritise skill evaluation within their organisations. One feedback we received was, "In a couple of clicks, I could book a meeting and have some skin in the game. I have no doubt I would attend that meeting."

• Tailoring Support: Our prototype suggested a tailored support service, which was appreciated by users. One stated, "The fact that there is tailored support and it's free is quite shocking."

• Simplifying the Process: The design delivered a simplified user experience, making the engagement process with the agency easier. A user said, "I'll answer quicker if it's pre-populated like this. It makes me not say - 'I can't be bothered.’"

  
  

This case study showcases the process of a successful service design, from understanding user needs to creating a user-friendly solution, and the impact it made on both the client organisation and their end-users.

If you're interested in learning more about this project or would like to discuss similar opportunities, please get in touch!