HOW might YOU LEASE ENTERPRISE EQUIPMENT?
Apple Financial Services x GE | Strategy | UX
GE Capital’s client, Apple Financial Services, provides an online form for its vendors to order and finance equipment. How might you enable users to compare loan options? How would you scale this form for other GE Capital clients around the world?
I led a 20-person international team across U.S.A., U.K., Germany, and India to identify and align on business objectives. I created the new responsive design that reduced customer time-on-task by 37%. The design was modular, making it reusable and extensible to 1000+ GE Capital clients.
STRATEGY
Stakeholder and goal alignment, use case definition, usability test
Salespeople at companies like BMW often use iPads as they talk to their customers. Leasing equipment was often more cost effective than purchasing, so they would contact Apple Financial Services to get an equipment lease. GE Capital was the financial engine behind Apple Financial Services.
Because of the disparate teams across the U.S.A., U.K., Germany, and India, business requirements got lost in translation and across time zones. I led the 20-person team in an online session to identify and align on business and user goals.
I then conducted usability tests on the existing form to identify the main use cases and roadblocks in the user experience. The main use case was for salespeople to compare and select equipment leasing plans to present to his client. Their main considerations are price and the lease term (e.g. monthly for 24 months). Manipulating 12 dropdown boxes and 3 radio buttons made it difficult for users to easily compare lease plans. Forms took a long time to fill out.
Strategy RESULTS
I aligned the 20-person team across U.S.A., U.K., Germany, and India on project goals and scope: Create a tool that easily allows salespeople to select equipment and compare leases.
Design
Information architecture, interaction design
My first step was to reorganize the information so that it's easier to read. Since the most important data were the price and the loan term, I wanted to make these more prominent. I sketched different ways to see the data, like a scrolling carousel where the user can choose different options.
Ultimately I went with a grid approach. I wanted to ensure large touch targets so it's easy to use on a tablet. Each touch target "square" shows the price and the loan term in months prominently. A grid also allowed the user to compare the most important decisions, like whether to continue renting or to buy the equipment after the lease.
For mobile, the grid did not shrink well. I restructured the information into a table view while showing the key information.
I collaborated with a graphics designer to ensure that the final design was on brand, while adding other helpful features like a progress bar.
design RESULTS
Apple approved the form design. This modular design is flexible enough to be used for GE Capital's 1000 other clients and reduced development time by 20%.
The simplified form achieved a 37% reduction in user time-on-task.