InfoTrax® Systems, a trusted global name in the Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) software, is an industry leading provider of back-end operations systems and online distributor tools for the Direct Sales industry. In order to target diverse clientele and simplify propriety code-base, InfoTrax decided to ship their services to their customers as subscription-based APIs instead of their legacy full-stack solutions.

BRIEF To fulfill this requirement they wanted ValueLabs to envision and create a developer portal for their web platform, named FlexCloud. The design efforts involved restructuring the service journey for the product from on-boarding phase to business-as-usual, re-imagining system navigation and management of multiple roles and introduce guided integration process in the portal. Upon redefining the scope of the project, our solution grew into a multi-app web platform which would host not just the developer portal but other enterprise applications as well. This required us to invent the foundation design of this web platform, and its corresponding ecosystem. Our solution involved:

1. Developing a cohesive framework for multi-app platform keeping responsiveness, efficiency and ease of navigation in mind.

2. Including cross-functional ideas to support multiple roles (both internal and external users) in the platform through an qualitative research-based process.

3. Approaching design framework to enable modular integration of futures components quickly and with ease.

4. Decreasing learning curve for using the platform informed by information architecture. Visual hierarchy supported cues in user interface and making it more approachable.

5. Uncovering technical and business loopholes, and solved them through iterative design approach and diverse usability testing.

6. Revisiting the visual design systems and include changes based on the new component variants added. Make interface more approachable.

IMPACT DELIVERED

1. Visual consistency increased the ability of users to learn a product and this led to efficient workflows and enforced brand recall amongst the users.

2. Functional consistency ensures the user is getting the outcome they would expect when using an application. It helps make the user feel safe and familiar with the app by increasing predictability.

3. Consistent configuration states of various components and responsive design made the development process more streamlined and less error prone. That way we leveraged the existing mental models of the user for future feature development.

4. Scalable design framework grows to accommodate multiple applications, environments, organization and user profiles.

5. Application design got tested alongside, thereby reducing the risks of unnecessary re-iterations. Insights were captured in research interviews, between what is 'said and not said'.

6. Faster onboarding and knowledge transfer for newer employee into the system, reduced dependency of one individual and better visibility for the stakeholders. Better collaboration amongst internal employees and clients.

The project bagged awards under following categories —
Vega Design Awards 2021: Website - Multi-level Marketing (Centauri), Business to Business (Centauri), Web Applications / Services (Centauri), Information Technology (Centauri), User Experience (Centauri)
Muse Creative Awards 2021: Website - Information Technology (Gold), Business to Business (Gold), Multi-level Marketing (Silver), Web App (Silver)

I would, through this post, like to sincerely thank all the member of the FlexCloud and UXG team who have spent their valuable time and effort in making this project an award-winning success. Thanks to Kadambari Sahu for patiently believing in my process and guiding me wherever I was stuck. Special thanks to my team members and colleagues Suryansh Srivastava, Akshay Katkade, Anuja Thanawala, Sourav Mukherjee for supporting me through out the process. Also thanks to Chandra Shekhar Reddy for helping me document my applications and proposals and better communicate my ideas with the world.