Background
Orba One is an early-stage start-up based in Jamaica. The stakeholders aim to create a digital identity verification platform that encourages a simplified and automated Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) process. The team was small, and we worked agilely by continually updating our concepts from user feedback.
Research
Because I was unfamiliar with the global identity verification industry, I began conducting secondary research to better understand market trends and demographics. I then conducted interviews to learn more about the various requirements and experiences people have had.
Through my research, I wanted to:
- Understand the market trends of the identity verification industry
- Identify Orba One's target market
- Understand the experiences and use cases for automated identity verification in various industries
- Discover the goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations of Orba One's users
Market Research
Research into the global identity market allowed me to develop a better understanding of the product fit and how adjustments could be made to Orba One to meet the industry's standards.
Market Insights #1
The identity verification market is growing.
The identity verification market is expected to grow from $8 Billion in 2021 to reach $17.7 Billion in 2026 for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.1%.
Market Insights #2
Covid 19 has significantly impacted the industry
After the outbreak of COVID-19, verticals across the globe had to mandatorily adapt to the new digital world, causing more companies to require a digitized system.
Market Insights #3
Increased need for security protocols
The digitalization of the world has brought many identity-related frauds to light, requiring businesses to take stringent security measures.
Talking to users
After various stakeholder meetings and interactions with customers, I developed a better understanding of who Orba One's users were. Through these interactions, I received some critical insights mentioned below:
Interview Insights #1
Identity verification is an arduous task
Users said their KYC process could take anywhere between three days to two weeks, frequently causing customers to fall off.
Interview Insights #2
Users wanted more time away to focus elsewhere
Compliance Managers users want to focus on other aspects of their customer onboarding process instead of identity verification.
Interview Insights #3
Branding and identity was important
For most users, their marketing and branding departments stressed the importance of keeping consistent/similar branding to their current products.
Interview Insights #4
Users wanted more information on sanctions
Users felt the record logs did not provide an easy-to-scan method for viewing customer sanctions. They wanted a way to consider sanctions on the dashboard.
Interview Insights #5
Too many physical documents
Compliance managers and officers were burdened with a multitude of physical documents. This added to a long time for processing verifications.
Interview Insights #6
Ease of integration
Developers wanted a system that was easily integrated into their current workflow. Their primary focus was setting up Orba One and then leaving it to the compliance managers.
User Insights
Using the information gathered, I was able to break it into two sections: User Needs and User Goals. This allowed me to zero in on what the users of the product would be looking for.
User Needs
- To speed up their current identity verification process.
- Have a clear and consistent way of verifying documents.
- Digitize their customer/user onboarding process.
- Reduce the number of physical documents.
User Goals
- To reduce human interaction/ fully automate their identity verification process.
- Keep a consistent flow from their onboarding to the verification process.
- Reduce the current cost of verifying businesses and customers.
Building Empathy
To ensure that my decisions moving forward in the process are user-centred, I needed to know who Orba One's users are. Based on what I learned from patterns in my interactions with users, I created user personas to represent who I will be designing for.
User Personas
I was able to sort Orba One's users into two categories: Compliance Manager/Officers and Software Developers.
Empathy maps
By identifying common patterns across my research and findings, I created empathy maps that highlighted the key wants and needs of Orba One's users.
Defining the Problems
Now that I've better understood Orba One's users, I'd like to consider what problems we're attempting to solve. Using the insights and needs from the empathy map, I began to delve deeper to better understand their issues by developing point-of-view (POV) statements and How Might We (HMW) questions to guide my brainstorming process.
Task Flows
Next, I needed to know how the two types of users would interact with key screens and features of the dashboard. These task flows helped me to see how our users would be completing these essential tasks
Compliance Officer Verification Flow
I created this task flow to track how applicants are verified.
Developer Integration Flow
I created this task flow to track how developers integrate Orba One into their system
User Flow
Now I wanted to delve even deeper and better understand our user’s overall journey through the app from beginning to end. I wanted to better empathize with the situation they might be in, the various decisions they might make, and the various paths they might take to complete the critical tasks I identified. To accomplish this, I created a user flow in which I mapped out the actions they would take.
Design Decisions
Here is how the design decisions were made and their impact on our users.
Know Your Customer Dashboard
The primary focus of the KYC Dashboard was to speed up the verification process.
High Efficiency of Use
The updated dashboard allowed new and power users to quickly search and find applicants. Search and filter compliance officers could quickly find their customers and view their applications with the addition of sort.
Applicant Verification Screens
Compliance officers could now quickly get a detail breakdown of the applicant's approval rating, face match, document authencity and sanction can results.
Reduced physical documents.
Compliance officers no longer need to collect scanned IDs, Politically Exposed Person Forms or Photos of applicants. This feature allowed them to reduce the number of physical documents required.
Customization Dashboard
With digital verification, many users are more cautious with the information they provide. I added the ability to customize the onboarding flow. This would allow Orba One users to feel more secure as the colour scheme and general font style would match the original system it was attached to.
Onboarding Flow
I updated the onboarding screens, making the onboarding process more welcoming.
Business Verification Dashboard
More flexibility when viewing business information; users can now quickly view business registration documents and the credibility of business owners.
Webhooks
The webhooks section gave more power to the developers, allowing them to quickly test various endpoints and get details on the changes they made.
