State Farm Billing Systems (Client/Service Journey)

The core expedition was to modernize the entire billing and payment process at State Farm to deliver tangible value to customers and reduce operational overhead within the insurance business. The organization faced significant hurdles in migrating to new systems and leveraging modern technology without negatively impacting the end-customer experience. Key issues included latency in back-end systems, isolated information networks across business segments, and a fundamental lack of holistic understanding of the end-to-end billing and payment process. This represented a deeply fragmented and siloed approach that hindered genuine innovation, necessitating a comprehensive shift in understanding the entire ecosystem.

On this six-month journey, operating with limited collaboration due to the project's sensitive nature, my goal was to gain a holistic understanding of the current state of the billing and payment ecosystem. My approach involved meticulously defining research needs and comprehensive system journey mapping. I employed a wide array of UX techniques: empathy mapping, information architecture relationship diagrams, process mapping, scenario-driven systems, and user journeys. A significant contribution and key landmark was the implementation of a "Combo journey map"—a visual representation designed to simplify complex scenarios by illustrating actors, supporting actors, and systems aligned with billing cycles over a six-month policy period. To ensure accurate data and content management and foster collaboration, I developed a custom AppleScript/MAC app that allowed importing .json data into Sketch symbols, enabling real-time content updates across the team. I also created a custom design system to ensure consistency in all presentation materials throughout the project. Field research was paramount, including an observational tour of the main money and mailing processing center, providing invaluable firsthand insights into the organizational challenges. This comprehensive process demonstrated profound exploration and discovery within a complex, constrained environment, applying resourcefulness through custom tools, and a strong commitment to achieving a holistic understanding of the problem. The methodical capture of all research and data points, often starting in Microsoft Excel, reflected an underlying stewardship model for managing complex information assets.

The team successfully compiled a comprehensive "moments of truth package," which included leadership presentation slides, large-format journey maps illustrating systems, scenario-based user journeys, and insights into the design system's capabilities. The custom AppleScript plugin notably streamlined the design process, automating repetitive tasks and enabling rapid iterations, thereby significantly improving efficiency and workflow within the team. This work considerably contributed to a holistic understanding of the existing ecosystem and led to the development of innovative solutions aimed at enhancing customer value and reducing operational overhead. The emphasis on systemic mapping and custom tool creation laid crucial groundwork for developing resilient and interconnected systems, embodying nascent principles of sustainable technology and shared responsibility in understanding and resolving complex organizational challenges.