A small regional bank was facing increasing challenges to modernize and optimize their small business commercial loan process to remain competitive against their peers that were ahead of the curve

Current state included physical paperwork, disconnected systems, in-person trips to visit the bankers, and many other tiresome hurdles that everyone involved wanted to avoid

A small regional bank wanted to make their commercial loan decisioning faster, with less manual intervention, and more insightful data, for both the customer and employee

As the Innovation/Product Strategist I led the entire project and cross-functional project team from introduction-to-delivery and was ultimately responsible for the overall success of the engagement

This included the following:

• Becoming familiar with and understanding the problem space

• Defining the project scope and setting expectations with the client

• Securing the logistics of the engagement

• Planning all activities of the design thinking workshop such that my team had enough information and visual artifacts to create a functional app and advertisement for the prototype

• Leading the cross-functional delivery team of: Product Strategists, Designers, Developers, Video Producers, Subject Matter Experts, Product Owners, Account Executives, and Client Business Liaisons

• Driving client alignment to a singular Customer Experience (CX) strategy powered by Mastercard Digital Labs

• Ensuring the entire project aligned with the Account Team’s overall roadmap for this client

• Most importantly, making it a fun experience for everyone involved

Core Team (x8)

• Product Strategists (x2)

• UX Designer (x2)

• Lead System Developer (x3)

• Video Producer

Extended Team (x2)

• Subject Matter Expert (x2)

Account Team (x2)

• Account Executive

• Client Business Liaison

Client Executives (x2)

• Chief Technology Officer

• Head of Credit Risk

Client Business (x9)

• VP of Small Business Banking

• VP of Product (x4)

• Director of Product (x2)

• Director of Loan Operations

• Product Manager

Client Operations (x5)

• Credit Analyst (x3)

• Commercial Banking Associate (x2)

Client Technology (x2)

• IT Application Manager

• Director of Enterprise Architecture

Project Timeline:

• Engaged with the client team August 13th, 2024

• Design Thinking workshop started September 16th, 2024

• Design Thinking workshop outputs delivered September 20th, 2024

Overall Approach = 4 Weeks

• Frame the Problem (3 weeks)

  • Kickoff meeting & alignment

  • Client & Stakeholder interviews

  • Desk Research

  • High-Level journey overview with the client

  • Design Thinking workshop planning

  • Workshop walkthrough with the client

• Align & Design (1 week)

  • Design Thinking workshop

  • Prototype development (during workshop)

  • Advertisement video creation (during workshop)

• Share (1 day)

  • Prototype delivery

  • Advertisement video delivery

  • Executive output presentation

Executive Pitch Deck —

An executive-level, compelling pitch presentation that showcases the story of why this new solution is right for the business and right for the customer

Fully functional prototype built for iOS —

A high-fidelity, interactive prototype that brings to life the customer experience by simulating the new product’s real-world functionality and serves as a key milestone to product commercialization

Advertisement video of the concept solution —

An advertisement product video that brings the new product concept to life and sells the key customer value proposition - rich media content is designed to increase interest and be shareable within the client’s organization

Week in review video —

A video reel of everything the group accomplished in the long week of Design Thinking, celebrating all the wins achieved along the way!

• Having many client participants in the room helps a lot with alignment. Without having the large participation, its often difficult to capture all necessary knowledge for a robust solution to the innovation challenge

• Workshop mechanics oftentimes become easier with more people in the room - specifically, more ideas are created which can be processed and filtered for the ideal solution

• Having client executives present allows the entire workshop to better understand what’s truly important, and produces buy-in from the start