The problem (and opportunity)

Our mission was clear: transform how energy brokers collect gas and electricity quotes from SSE, one of the UK’s biggest business energy providers. Over an intense 18-month journey, our collaborative product team navigated through Discovery, Alpha, Beta phases to uncover users’ frustrations with the existing SSE service, and then construct a new digital service from the ground up.

My role

Discovery

• Conducted stakeholder interviews

• Facilitated interviews with over 15 energy brokers

• Mapped ‘as-is’ service and users’ corresponding pains, needs and desires

• Played back findings to stakeholders

Alpha

• Collaboratively designed low-fidelity prototypes exploring possible solutions

• Ran a number of workshops with product team, stakeholders and energy brokers

• Planned and facilitated several rounds of usability testing with users

Beta

• Assisted with high-fidelity UI design

• Supported developers in the building of the service over a 12 month period

• Planned and facilitated fortnightly usability testing sessions with users

• Presented to stakeholders throughout the project

The project

As a UX consultant, I played a leading role in a transformative 18-month project reshaping how energy brokers accessed quotes from a major UK business energy company. Navigating through Discovery, Alpha, Beta, and iterative sprints, our collaborative product team built a service from scratch.

The journey commenced with a thorough Discovery phase, immersing ourselves in the needs, desires and pain points of the business and with energy brokers via workshops and depth interviews. Energy is a complicated area, so it there was a lot of learning to do, quickly.

Transitioning into the Alpha phase, our multi-disciplined team developed ideas for potential service frameworks, testing low-fidelity prototypes early and often with users to better understand their needs.

Once we had sufficient learnings and confidence in our concept, we then moved to to Beta. Through iterative design sprints, we incorporated insights from regular rounds of usability testing to refine the service further.

Usability testing, with over 8 rounds and 70+ hours invested, identified and addressed pain points, steering subsequent development phases. Demonstrating our commitment to user-centric design, we then conducted a private Beta, giving a closed group of brokers access to the MVP and subsequently gathering valuable feedback.

My role as a UX consultant in this transformative project highlights my commitment to collaboration, iteration, and user-centric design, supporting the team in creating a service that revolutionised the way brokers are able to get quotes from SSE.