At Iress, we are always striving for better. For a long time, this has meant focusing on delivering all the functionality our clients need to deliver their best.
While this approach has helped Xplan become the software of choice for advice businesses across the spectrum, it has meant the depth of navigation has also grown along the way.
When we were speaking to our clients they began telling us, it was taking longer than necessary to get to the area they needed. This was counterintuitive to us. The software we design to deliver so many efficiencies, shouldn't be taking more time to navigate.
So, we knew it was time to revolutionise the way we approached user experience. We also knew that meant bringing the user into the heart of the development process and along the entirety of the journey. That’s how Iress Labs was born - our new, collaborative approach to software development. And delivering a simple, intuitive navigation experience became the top of our priority list.
The outcome: a simplified, intuitive navigation experience
After 12 months of interviews, workshops, testing, iterations, more testing and more iterations, the outcome - a brand new, improved navigation experience - has been rolled out to all Xplan users using the latest version.
We knew it was time to revolutionise the way we approached user experience and bring the user into the heart of the development process
The new, simplified menu is truly intuitive and has been designed, through hundreds of hours of research, in line with how our users think and behave in Xplan. It has also resulted in a new ‘quick nav’ option that enables users to quickly search and load any area within Xplan. A new bookmark feature makes it easy for users to access their most used modules. And enhanced search capabilities means finding clients, accounts and documents is both easier and faster.
We are thrilled with the end result - and so are our users. Since its initial release in April, 90% of users who made a choice between the classic and new navigation chose the new experience.
And equally as rewarding, is the validation that our new co-design process is achieving exactly what it was intended to do.
Better doesn’t stop here
We are committed to continually improving the software experience for all our users. The way we see it, there is always room to do better. That’s why the navigation experience will continue to be tested and improved through the Iress Labs process. That’s also why it’s just one of many initiatives currently in progress through Iress Labs.
We look forward to rolling out our new client and opportunity management dashboards next. The response to the first user prototypes has been very positive, however they will remain in development and testing until we have a finished product that our users are delighted with.
Want to know more?
If you are an Xplan user, you can keep up with all the latest news and releases on the Xplan Community site.
If you aren’t a user of Xplan, but would like to find out what it can deliver for your business, please get in touch with our helpful team or discover more about Xplan here.
