Reimagining collections workflow

Overview

The organization set an aggressive goal to triple the dealer business, but the existing collections process was a manual, disjointed bottleneck. With approximately $7M of unidentified collections and high dependency on headcount, the system needed a major change to scale.

Through research and vision alignment, I influenced 80% of the 2026 product strategy and designed a MVP to streamline collections.

Role

Co-UX researcher, strategist, & Designer

Timeline

September May 2025 - February 2026

Deliverables

Process map, Vision cast, MVP prototype

The problem

Unidentified collections: Due to scattered ad hoc, manual processes, agents only reviewed 6%.

Strained partnership with dealers: Lack of trust and transparency in the collection process.

Audit difficulties: Lack of standard operating procedures and well-managed controls complicate audit processes.

The challenge

How might we design a unified digital collections workstream to support business scaling and mitigate risk?

  • Deep Customer Understanding

    I worked with our researcher to conduct 12 interviews across 5 job families.

    We synthesized these findings into a detailed process map and deck to socialize recommendations.

  • UX Vision Development

    I created a vision cast to visualize what a digital, streamlined collections experience could look like.

    I partnered with BAs to understand current inefficiencies in the process and outline how proposed improvements could positively impact the business.

    Reviewed vision cast with cross-functional team and users to create an impactful future state.

  • Executive Buy-in

    I worked with the product manager to create executive-level pitch decks to advocate for the proposed solution.

    I also utilized Gemini to quickly ideate the vision and walk through the vision with callouts to UI, tech needs, and AI opportunities.

MVP

I continued to iterate on the Gemini concepts and created a MVP for the collections workflow.

Notable future state concepts

AI

Outcomes

  • Influenced 80% of the 2026 roadmap with collections enhancements driving workflow improvements.

  • A digital payments feature that allows dealers to pay via ACH, dealer reserve, or check. This is expected to reduce outstanding collections to under $1 million. (Handoff)

Lessons learned

Design's greatest asset is our ability to think holistically about a problem.
This project reinforced that a designer’s most powerful tool isn’t always Figma, but the ability to synthesize complex data into a narrative that compels leadership to take meaningful action. By building a deep understanding of our customer base and successfully advocating for users, I was able to move design from a “service” to “strategic partner.”