Organizational Structures at UKG
UKG’s org chart felt uninspired and outdated, so I led the UX strategy to reimagine it to allow for modelling, forecasting and gaining customer insights, resulting in 60% beta interest, $20M in funding, and stronger customer retention.
The Challenge
UKG provides HR, payroll, and workforce management tools. Customers struggled to visualize, budget, and model their organizations effectively. Most organization charts are modeled using powerpoint.
Users perceived UKG's tools as outdated compared to competitors, putting customer retention at risk. To stay ahead, we needed to create an intuitive, future-focused organizational visualization tool that met user expectations, strengthened customer loyalty, and create a vessel to view organizational changes and insights.
My Role & Approach
As a Design Architect, I led UX strategy, research synthesis, and design execution to ensure our solution was customer-centric and impactful.
To do this, I:
Collaborated on competitor & customer research to define needs.
Created a compelling vision & storyboard to align leadership.
Developed high-fidelity prototypes based on real workflows.
Led design & iteration to refine the product.
Ensured WCAG 3.0 compliance for accessibility.
The Process: From Research to Reality
Understanding the Landscape
Through competitor analysis and customer interviews, we found that customers saw org visualization as a baseline feature, not an add-on. To retain users, we needed to wow them with innovation.
Building a Vision Through Storytelling
To move beyond abstract concepts, I lead development of a storyboard that depicted a stressful, real-world scenario: a department manager navigating a complex merger. This narrative made the tool's value tangible and urgent for leadership, transforming it from a feature into a strategic necessity and successfully rallying support for our vision.
Designing & Testing for Success
We built high-fidelity prototypes and conducted multiple rounds of user testing to refine our designs. Every iteration improved usability, and we ensured full accessibility compliance to meet industry standards.
By grounding our approach in research, storytelling, and iterative design, we delivered a high-impact solution that met real customer needs.
The Impact: Driving Business Success
60% of user testing participants were so impressed they requested to join the beta program, demonstrating immediate product-market fit.
Secured $20M in funding to launch the project.
Strengthened customer retention & positioned UKG as an industry leader.
Why it matters
User research & storytelling drove stakeholder buy-in.
Prototyping & iteration ensured we solved real pain points.
The $20M funding secured proved the business impact of great design.
