BenQ Account Integration
Overview
Users were required to register separate accounts when accessing different BenQ services, each with its distinct login processes and interfaces for the account system. To enhance user experience and maintain brand consistency, I worked towards integrating these processes comprehensively. This involved engaging all stakeholders to ensure they could follow up and collaborate effectively on achieving seamless account integration.
Duration
Sep, 2022 - Jul, 2024
Team
2 UX Designer, 2 GUI Designer, 6 Engineer, 1 Quality Assurance Engineer, 1 Product Manager, 1 Project Manager
My Role
UX Designer
- Designed user flow rules, information architecture, UI flows, and wireframes.
- Provided UX copy for three account systems.
- Conducted design testing with the QA engineer.
- Facilitated consensus-building among stakeholders.
Background
When accessing different services provided by BenQ, the users needed to register accounts respectively for each service, as the account systems were constructed and owned by different departments. Moreover, the login process and interface of each account system differed significantly, providing inconsistent user experience and brand image.
Thus, the UX team initiated a redesign to improve the user experience. This involved optimizing the user flow, refining guiding text, enhancing visual style while maintaining brand consistency, and fostering account database integration.
Objective
Steer process integration and foster account database integration.
Stage 1 - Process Integration
- Devise three types of registration and login processes for each account system.
- Align the processes to ensure consistency in the content and format of information that users provide.
Stage 2 - Account Database Integration
- Proceed with the integration of the account database, which requires concerted efforts from the product managers and engineers.
Challenges
1. Technical Limitations Hinder Process Consistency
There are three separate account systems for official websites, B2B services, and B2C services. Each of them has distinct technical limitations, such as mechanisms for information security, which increased the difficulty of maintaining process consistency.
2. Multiple Stakeholders Complicate Cross-Functional Collaboration
The account systems are owned by different departments, leading to involvement from numerous stakeholders across two R&D departments and five business units in this project. Aligning all stakeholders’ consensus was the hardest challenge.
Tasks
1. Prioritize Account System Integration
Firstly, we decided to integrate the B2B and B2C Service Login. Both are owned by the same R&D department and contain business and consumer accounts. Then, we planned to proceed with integrating the account system of official websites.
2. Conduct Design and Collaborate with R&D Teams
To maintain consistency across the three account systems, I planned the user flows, conducted the interface design, and acted as a facilitator between the two R&D departments to foster process integration. Once the integration was fully developed, I collaborated with the QA engineer to test the Golden Path for the registration and login processes of each account system.
3. Align Stakeholders on the Integration Plan
To move on to the next stage and realize account integration, I made slides, held introductory sessions, and filmed a video for all the stakeholders to introduce our plan and encourage their follow-up actions.
Designed Common Rules to Ensure Process Consistency
While the style and single sign-on schemes in each account system may vary slightly, it's essential to maintain consistency in the order of revealing registration information, following the rule below.
1. Common Information
The required registration information for all account systems, including the email, name, password, and terms and policy checkbox, should be displayed first.
2. Specific Information
Registering a business account in the B2B Service Login requires additional information. Since the business account is granted administrator permissions, verifying the administrator’s information during the registration process is necessary. This specific information should be displayed after the common information.
3. Additional Survey
Registering a consumer account in the B2C Service Login requires additional information to optimize personal experience. To shorten the registration and login process for users to try the software as soon as possible, I decided to display this survey only after the users sign in to the system for the first time.
Created Detailed UI Flows to Foster Account Integration
After planning the common rules of user flow and information architecture, I created detailed UI flows of the login and registration processes for three account systems, covering account creation, sign-in, single sign-on (SSO), password recovery, member emails, and two-factor authentication.
1. Create Account
2. Sign in
3. Single Sign-on
4. Reset Password
5. Two-Factor Authentication
Results
Users can now access BenQ services with a single account and consistent experience.
We have completed the process integration and are now proceeding with the account database integration in the second stage. Both the B2B Service Login and B2C Service Login databases have been integrated, and the service is named BenQ Connect. At least three business units are currently progressing with the account integration plan. Consequently, users can now access all these services with just one account.
Additionally, both R&D departments are in the process of integrating the account system of official websites.
Benefits after Redesign
- Simplify the registration process
- The users could access different services with the same account.
- Create a seamless user experience
- I optimized the login and registration processes with more comprehensive guiding information.
- Construct brand consistency
- The GUI designers maintained a minimalist style corresponding to the official website.
- I rewrote guiding texts with a human tone of voice.
- Decrease the cost of developing the account system
- We could avoid developing the same account functions repetitively by different departments through holding introductory sessions for stakeholders.
Lessons Learned
The main challenge of fostering account integration was cross-functional collaboration. In my opinion, the UX team was like a chef with a recipe in mind for this project, while other stakeholders hold essential resources such as a stove or a pot that could be used to produce the ideal dish. However, before we conveyed the recipe, prepared adequate ingredients, and provided explicit guidance, the stakeholders were unable to trust and provide their resources for making an unimaginable dish. Thus, communication for building consensus between stakeholders was the most critical and difficult challenge. From this project, I experienced influences on the team through aligning thoughts and trained myself to think logically and carefully from a holistic perspective when designing user flows.
